


11 AM Doesn't Exist

by MeganRosenberg



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Assault, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Death Threats, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Protectiveness, Sexual Assault, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threats of Violence, Violence, protective kevin beckman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-09-25 15:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17124197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRosenberg/pseuds/MeganRosenberg
Summary: Holtzmann is cornered in a dark alley by a couple angry guys who believe The Ghostbusters are frauds and that the New York incident was a hoax. They channel their unfounded anger against her through unforgiving taunts and violence. Feeling rather sad and ashamed by the incident, Holtzmann goes back to the firehouse afterwards to get herself cleaned up, thinking no one else would be there so late at night. She's surprised to run into Kevin, and even more surprised how intuitive and comforting the man is capable of being.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays, everyone! I'm on break and that means more updates! I'm bringing you the start of this story the very same day I posted the last chapter of my other. I love you and hope you enjoy:
> 
> **Here's some additional notes if you care to read them: Kevin and Holtzmann are FRIENDS in here. Neither of the characters feel anything but platonic love in this story. I think of their relationship as kind of a brother-sister type thing. I do not ship them at all. Just a friend ship. Nothing more
> 
> So I keep doing this thing where I write fanfiction with a couple of my favorite characters in a certain fandom... and I write lots of it with those two characters ... and here and there, I throw in another character... and sometimes that other character creates a bit of a spark of excitement in me that I did not expect. After my previous story, which was largely about Patty and Holtzmann, but which had a sprinkling of Kevin, I thought... "holy shit... Kevin's kind of a fun character to write... and the thought of he and Holtzmann having a cute little friendship is charming as fuck. Big, muscular, adorably stupid Kevin and itty bitty tiny, adorably smart Holtzmann being buddies? Let's do this!"
> 
> To me, a story where Kevin is forced to be mature and Holtzmann is forced to be vulnerable and to put trust in someone she's not entirely sure about sounds interesting... So I created a plot where Kevin and only Kevin is the person Holtzmann must go to for support when things don't go well for her.

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 1

xxxxxx

Holtzmann looked cautiously around the alley as she made her way toward her favorite dumpster. Sometimes the people who owned the nearby businesses didn't care much for her digging through it, so she tried to be discreet. She certainly didn't want the police called on her again. That's why she was here so late though - everything was closed for the night. Unless someone was just wandering around the street, she could probably go through the dumpster undetected.

No one was around, so she sauntered over to the dumpster and hefted herself up and over, jumping down into it and landing on top of a pile of deconstructed cardboard boxes. Good. That meant the store had probably just gotten a fresh shipment of parts - which meant they'd probably thrown out their old ones - the ones they deemed unusable, but which would be perfect for Holtzmann's inventions. Things like tangled copper wire - still perfectly usable once straightened out - or rusted pipes - scrape off all the rust, and they're good as new. Holtzmann wasn't sure why everybody was so wasteful all the time. Unless they really didn't know that this stuff wasn't broken just because it wasn't perfect.

She lifted some of the boxes and started looking under them. It looked like they'd thrown out a lot of bits and pieces of plastic piping today. That wasn't necessarily what she could use - plastic melted a whole lot easier than metal and Holtzmann worked a lot with fire... She preferred equipment that wouldn't melt if at all possible... But she might be able to make it work if she had to.

She dug through it with one hand while holding up the stack of cardboard with the other. The folded boxes were kinda heavy. Maybe she could toss them out of the dumpster for now so she could better sift through what was under them.

With an exhale, she stood up, picking up part of the stack and shoving it out of the dumpster and onto the ground. She bent down and picked up the rest, a larger, heavier portion of the stack, and dragged them up and out the top of the dumpster as well. They landed against the pavement with a flopping sound.

"Hey!" A voice shouted.

Holtzmann felt her eyes grow wide as she let out a small gasp and sunk down into the dumpster. Why did people get so mad when she wanted things they were just throwing out anyway?

She listened quietly as she heard voices and footsteps approaching. She also squatted down, hiding her face as she wished there were still boxes in here she could hide under.

"Hey, kid." One of the voices spoke as he neared the dumpster. "If you're looking for dinner, that ain't where you're gonna find it." He laughed.

Holtzmann swallowed and shrunk down further. This guy sounded pretty condescending. He probably thought Holtzmann was a homeless kid and instead of trying to be helpful, he was joking around being rude. Anyone who thought making fun of the homeless was funny wasn't someone she was really interested in talking to.

"Come on out." A second voice ordered and she heard someone climbing up on the edge of the dumpster. She wondered if they were cops. That would be the only reason they'd have any right to tell her what to do... Unless maybe they owned the dumpster.

With a nervous exhale, Holtzmann looked up. She couldn't exactly hide in plain sight. She was pretty much cornered here. As she looked up at the guy, he looked back, appearing somewhat surprised. He had very short, buzzed hair, appeared to be rather tall, was wearing a sleeveless tank top and had quite a few tattoos over his huge upper-arms.

Holtzmann frowned. He didn't look like a cop. He didn't look like any of the shop owners she'd met either... which meant this was really none of his business.

"Steve, it's a girl!" He laughed. "Come look!"

"Shut up Nick. Like a young girl? Is she hot? Or is it like an old bag-lady deal?" The second guy wondered as his footsteps approached.

"Eh." Nick shrugged as he looked Holtzmann up and down. "Can't tell. She's not old, but she looks kinda nuts."

The second guy jumped up and peered into the dumpster next to the first as Holtzmann stood up. She'd just have to try to talk her way out of this. She was pretty sure neither of these guys owned this dumpster or worked in the hardware store. She hadn't seen them around here before. They really had no right to be mad.

"I'm just salvaging parts these people were gonna throw out anyway." Holtzmann explained, staring up at the guy who was apparently named Steve. He wore a dark t-shirt, had arms just as huge as the other guy's but minus the tattoos. His hair was also longer and darker.

"I don't think that's legal, Honey." Steve laughed. He held his hand down toward her. "Let me help you out of there."

Holtzmann shook her head and stepped back. "No thanks. This'll take me a couple minutes. I'm fine." She forced a smile, hoping these guys would take a hint and leave her alone. It wasn't their dumpster. Why did they care?

She swallowed and stared up at them as they made no move to leave. Nick was staring at her with narrowed eyes, as though trying to think of something or another. Steve just smirked like he thought the whole interaction was the funniest thing that had ever happened to him.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Nick asked, with his dark eyes still narrowed.

Holtzmann shook her head. "Don't think so."

"Are you homeless?" Steve asked, still smiling like he thought an affirmative answer would be positively hilarious.

"No." Holtzmann frowned.

"Just down on your luck?" Steve went on. "We could take you somewhere for a sandwich or coffee or something." He held his hand down closer, causing Holtzmann to take another step back, nearly tripping over a bag of trash as she stumbled backward.

She shook her head. "I'm fine. Thanks though."

"Aw, come on, Sweety. You don't look fine. Let us help you." Steve offered a condescending smirk. "A cute girl like you shouldn't be digging around in dumpsters. If there's something you need that bad, I can buy it for you."

Holtzmann swallowed. "I'm not homeless. I don't need help... I'm just recycling..." She frowned. "Thank you." She said again, fearing these guys would consider her rejection offensive. They seemed like the type who would. "But I don't need help. I'm fine."

"Come on. We'll take you for a coffee anyway." Steve refused her answer and reached out toward her wrist.

Holtzmann pulled her arm back and shook her head. "I'm in the middle of something." She said more slowly. "As appealing as I'm sure it is to find a woman in a literal garbage bin and take her for coffee, I'm afraid I can't accept. You could check the dumpster down the street."

Steve let out a small chuckle and smirked, clearly appreciating her sarcastic comment. He still didn't move to leave though.

"So..." Holtz shrugged and exhaled. "It was nice talking with you... Bye." She frowned.

"Aww... It doesn't have to be like a date or anything... Just coffee. We can even drive around to other dumpsters after and find the best trash in the city." Steve stuck out his lower lip in a pout and leaned into the dumpster so he could reach further as he grabbed at her arm, successfully gripping near her wrist.

Holtzmann grimaced and yanked her hand back. "No." She finally just said simply, unable to fake kindness in her voice any longer. She hated when men couldn't take no for an answer. Why did they want to be around her anyway? She didn't know them. They didn't know her. She didn't exactly dress to impress or actively flirt with people. She considered herself very unappealing to straight men... So what the hell did they want?

"No?" Steve scowled down at her with raised eyebrows.

Holtz frowned as she stared back.

"You're being kind of rude, Honey." Steve frowned and glared.

"I'm not being rude. I just don't want to go get coffee. I'm busy." Holtzmann explained.

"I'm trying to be nice here." Steve went on, clearly all out of smiles as he growled down at her. "You look like you belong in that fucking dumpster, and I was trying to be kind to you anyway. You should feel flattered I'm even giving you the time of day."

"Oh, yes. This has been very flattering. Unsolicited comments about my appearance mixed in with insults and vaguely threatening demands that I drop everything I'm doing to go out for coffee with two random men I don't know... Being asked if I'm homeless, being told I look like I belong in a dumpster? Wow... I mean, there's no greater turn on. But I'm busy." Holtzmann reminded him.

"Busy being a condescending fucking prude? You think you're too good for us? You're the one in the dumpster, Sweety." Steve glared.

"Maybe you guys are too good for me then." Holtz shrugged, trying to joke her way through this. She knew she was pressing her luck being so sarcastic, but it was her best line of defense at the moment - to show these guys who had yet to accept a negative answer from her that she wasn't scared of them. They wouldn't listen to her when she tried to be polite. This was the next logical step.

"Yeah. I am too good for some freak in a garbage can. You're right." Steve frowned. "But I was trying to be charitable. The least you could do is accept a kind gesture... But no. You think you're so funny and cute..."

Holtzmann blinked and then stared back at him. "You're right. I'm here among the garbage... And you're both..." She exhaled dramatically and shook her head. "I mean, you're both just so charming. Cornering women in alleys in the middle of the night and demanding their attention after they reject you. That's really attractive... so... You guys are free to go find someone more worthy then I am. I won't beg you to stay. I promise."

Steve narrowed his eyes and stared at her, but didn't seem to have anything else to say.

"I've definitely seen you before." Nick cut in. He didn't look too happy either. Seemingly just looking at her was bringing up some negative emotion in the man.

Holtzmann looked from one of the men to the next as her heart fluttered in her chest. She really wanted out of here now.

"Where could you possibly know this crazy bitch from?" Steve growled, glancing toward his friend and then back toward Holtzmann. "Narcotics anonymous?" He asked with a smirk.

Nick glared at Steve. "It was AA. Not NA. And I don't go to those anymore." He defended himself.

"Well, you probably shouldn't have stopped going, dipshit." Steve told his friend. "You've been drinking all night, and I'm pretty sure you were drunk at work yesterday too."

"Hardly!" Nick growled. "I had a few drinks over lunch."

Holtzmann continued staring back and forth between the two men as they started to argue with each other. She wondered if she just climbed out the side of the dumpster and left if they'd try to stop her - or even notice.

"You're gonna get fired over that shit one of these days." Steve laughed.

Holtzmann swallowed and inched toward the side of the dumpster furthest from them. She wasn't sure if they'd let her leave if she just politely said she was heading out or not... but she figured leaving quietly just in case was her safest bet.

"Only if you narc on me, Steve." Nick growled.

"I don't have to. You reek of booze every second of your life." Steve was still laughing as Holtzmann jumped up over the edge of the dumpster and felt her feet hit the pavement below. "Hey!" His voice sounded less thrilled now. "Where do you think you're going, Baby Girl?" He rushed over toward her, grabbing her upper arm and pulling her back before she made it more than a few steps.

Holtzmann grimaced as she stumbled back and tried to pull her arm free. He was holding on tight, but she didn't want to fight back too hard just yet. Hopefully she could keep the situation from escalating. If she had to physically fight back, she would, but she really didn't want this to turn into a two-against-one physical fight. Especially when each of the two were a lot bigger than she was.

"I'm just gonna head home..." She spoke, unhappy with herself that she sounded so nervous and out of breath. This whole interaction was just so heavy with awkward tension. Ordinarily, Holtz was the first to take advantage of and even enjoy awkward social interactions, but there was something more going on with these men. It wasn't just awkward. There was something wrong here. These guys didn't seem to be trying to be friendly or funny. They were being weird and creepy.

"Aw... No you're not." Steve smiled and leaned down a bit, causing Holtz to flinch away.

"I think I know where I've seen you before..." The other guy spoke up again. "You were on tv... You're one of those Ghostbusters chicks..."

Steve yanked on her arm, pulling her back away from himself somewhat roughly so he could look her over. As his eyes moved up and down, taking in her appearance, he nodded. "Yeah. She is. She's the little weird one. Not that they aren't all weird." He added with a laugh. "I knew she looked familiar."

Holtzmann swallowed, staring from Steve to Nick with a frown and furrowed brows.

"You know..." Nick spoke as he stepped toward her, and as Holtz shrunk back as much as Steve's hard grip around her upper arm allowed. "A lot of people don't believe the bullshit you girls are selling."

Holtzmann heart sunk. These guys weren't fans... She wondered if she should try to defend her work - to remind him of the mounds of evidence there was to back up what she and her friends did. Something told her this guy's mind was already made up and that nothing would change that though. Trying to defend The Ghostbusters' reputation in this guy's mind might not be worth the very likely result of pissing him off further.

"People gave you guys all this credit, saying you stopped some kind of ghost apocalypse..." He shook his head as he glared down at her. "I just want to let you know... I'm not fucking stupid. Ghosts aren't real. I don't know how you convinced most of the city that you all saved the world, but you should know we're not all that dumb. I'm not falling for it. I can't believe you get to call that your job... You get paid for that shit. It's ridiculous." He leaned down close. Close enough that she could smell alcohol on his breath.

Holtzmann shrunk back, feeling her arm tense under Steve's hand. She had to get away from these people. "Okay..." She whispered. "That's fine. You don't have to believe any of it... Think whatever you want. That's okay..."

Nick continued glaring. His mouth twitched as his eyes looked increasingly angry. He reached out and grabbed her other arm - the one Steve wasn't holding, squeezing rather tight as he pulled her a stumbling step toward him.

Holtzmann let out a small, started gasp, but couldn't bring herself to speak at the moment. What did this guy want?

"You guys are fucking liars." He rephrased, letting go of her arm only so he could place his fingers against her collar and shove her back toward his friend.

She stumbled backwards, wincing as her back hit the very solid mass of Steve's chest. She could still feel the points on her collar where Nick's fingers had been, where he had shoved her, honestly pretty hard. Holtzmann swallowed nervously as the situation she found herself in felt more and more real, and more and more dangerous. Both of these men were huge, and neither seemed to want to let her leave.

Holtzmann frowned as she felt Steve put his hands on her shoulders, turning her around to face him. She looked up at him and swallowed, waiting for him to say whatever he wanted to say.

But he didn't say anything. Instead, he shoved her backward with a laugh.

Holtzmann whimpered as she felt herself land against Nick's hands. He shoved her right back toward his friend. Holtz squeezed her eyes shut. These men were so strong. One effortless little shove was enough to force her to stumble hard one way or the other. She felt mad that they thought they had the right to treat her like this - to act like school children bullying a smaller peer. More than mad though, she was scared. If they'd shove her around as a joke, what else would they do? Most men didn't playfully hurt women for fun unless they were willing to take it a whole lot further for even more fun.

When she stumbled forward toward Steve again, he shoved her back hard enough to knock her to the ground. She landed painfully and rolled to the side, trying to distance herself from the men enough to give herself enough space to make a run for it. Unfortunately, Nick was quick to grab her arms and pull her up to her feet as she thrashed desperately under his hands.

"Get off of me!" Holtz cried, feeling both panic and pain as his hard hands squeezed her arms and pulled her back before letting go only long enough to shove her forward toward Steve again with a cruel laugh.

"Stop!" Holtzmann gasped as she felt Steve's hands on her arms again. He held one arm tightly in his fist as he placed his other hand on her jaw, forcing her to look up at him. She stared breathlessly up at him, scared of what he might do.

"We were just playing, Honey." Steve laughed, sort of petting her cheek and neck with his fingers and thumb. "Don't you think it's funny? I thought you liked being funny."

Holtzmann turned her head to the side, staring down the alley, which looked so much longer than she remembered. They were pretty far from the street. Though she was reaching a limit here on how long she was willing to play nice and hope being non-confrontational would be her salvation, she really wasn't sure if calling for help would do her any good.

"Hm? You didn't like our joke, Babe?" Steve laughed as he put his hand on her cheek and forced her to turn her face back.

She breathed in and out, trying to keep her shaking breaths under control so that her fear wasn't completely obvious. "Yeah. No, I liked your joke. It's hilarious. Hilarious enough to totally win me over. How about we go get that coffee now." She forced a breathless smile. Maybe if they truly were dumb enough to believe that, she could get them to take her somewhere more public where she could call out to whoever was around to help her out of this mess.

"I don't think so." Nick spoke up. "That offer's off the table. That was before I realized who you were. You and your weird freaky friends are liars. I don't like that."

Steve spun Holtzmann around and grabbed both of her arms in hard hands, holding her tight in front of himself so that she was facing Nick. Steve leaned his face down close to her ear. "Why are you and your friends lying to everyone, little girl?" He whispered.

Holtzmann shook her head. Did they want her to defend herself and her friends? Or was she supposed to apologize? "We're not lying..." She grimaced, hoping that answer wouldn't get her hurt. "I don't care if you believe in ghosts or not... I'm not telling you that you have to believe or understand what we do-"

"See, that's where you piss people off, Hon." Steve interrupted. "You think we don't understand it?" He scoffed.

"Well, do you?" She frowned.

"Yeah. We understand that it's bullshit." Nick glared.

Holtzmann couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes as she shook her head. She felt her throat grow tight as tears sprung up into her eyes. She honestly didn't know what to do in this situation. Obviously these idiots didn't understand the work she and her friends did. They didn't get it, so they couldn't believe it was possible. Their ignorance was making them violently angry, but what was she supposed to do about it? She couldn't force them to understand something they weren't capable of comprehending. It wasn't like they were going to allow her to educate them. They didn't want to understand. They just wanted to be mad.

"Guys... I really have to go..." Holtzmann's voice shook slightly as she tried to remain calm. "Ordinarily, I'd love to stand out here and debate the validity of my work with you... but I've got places I've got to be. People are expecting me." She added with a nervous swallow, hoping offering that lie might scare them off.

"I don't think so." Nick shook his head, taking a step forward so that she was within his reach. He moved his hand up toward her face, grabbing one of her curls between two of his fingers and twisting it before running it through his fingers and letting it fall down over her eye.

"Listen..." Holtzmann breathed. "I'm sorry if my friends and I offend you... If you don't believe in ghosts, that's fine, but we're certainly not trying to deceive or cheat anyone... If ghosts aren't real, we're not aware of it... We've all seen them. We all believe in them... If we've fooled everyone, we've fooled ourselves too, so just let it be... I'm not trying to start anything here..."

"You already did, Babe." Steve whispered from behind her, causing her to shrink down even further. "You take advantage of people's gullibility and get praise for it. That pisses people off."

"Okay... well..." She stammered, shaking her head and fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "We... We won't do it anymore..." She shrugged. What the hell else did this guy expect from her right now? She couldn't go back in time and let the ghosts kill everyone, if that's what he wanted.

"So you're admitting that what you do is fake." Nick asked with raised eyebrows.

Holtzmann stared back with huge eyes. "Well, no..." She frowned.

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes. He stared down at her, leaning in slightly closer as Holtzmann held her breath. Maybe she should have just agreed long enough to get herself out of here. That was so hard to do though - to pretend to agree with someone who was dumb and wrong and didn't deserve validation.

Holtzmann sucked in a sharp breath and squeezed her eyes shut as Nick's hand shot up and grabbed a fist of her hair, pulling back. She tried to reach up with her own hands to defend herself, but Steve was still holding very tightly onto her arms.

"Okay! Okay! Stop!" She gasped, still trying to tug her arms out of Steve's grip as Nick forced her head back and put his fingers lightly against her throat. "Please let go..." She whimpered.

Nick paused, keeping his hands in place, but not pulling back any harder, and saying nothing. Was he waiting on Holtzmann to say something else?

"Y-you're right..." She breathed, still keeping her eyes squeezed shut. "We tricked people. What we do isn't real. You're right..." She gave in, hoping it would make them leave. Nothing else had worked.

"I know." Nick spoke. He didn't sound any less angry. "I wonder though, what makes you think you have the right?" He yanked her hair back harder and moved his hand down her throat, grabbing at a small scarf she had tied around her neck and pulling at it until it was untied and then tossing it to the ground.

Holtzmann winced and squeezed her hands into fists. She was about to get desperate enough to start giving fighting back her all. It didn't sound like a good idea - since she was so clearly outmatched... But she was close to ready to do it anyway. It would likely involve her stomping her feet down on top of Steve's feet, startling him enough to pull at least one of her arms free, at which point she could punch Nick and knee him in the crotch at the same time. It was a solid plan, but she didn't expect it to work well enough for her to escape. Even if they both let go of her at the same time, then what? She'd run... be out-run... Get caught again...

"Hm? Why?" Nick growled.

"I don't know..." She whimpered. "For whatever reason you think. Whatever you think - you're right."

"Well, now you sound sarcastic again." Nick laughed dryly and pulled her hair back harder, putting his hand on her jaw and running his thumb over her lips. "Shame your soft little mouth spews so much bullshit nonstop." He breathed.

She tried to turn her head, but couldn't really do so.

"That's something I really don't like in a woman." Nick went on. "When you all get cocky and think you're smart... I don't like women who talk too much. I've got other uses for those lips though." He smirked, putting his thumb over her lower lip again and pressing down.

She pulled back what little she could. "Don't touch me." She breathed in a shaking voice.

Nick chuckled and moved his hand away from her face, choosing to rest it on her waist instead as he pulled her hair back slightly further.

"I don't know what you want." Holtzmann growled.

"I want an honest apology for what you and your friends did to the people of this city." Nick smirked. "You didn't save anybody from any fucking ghosts and you know it. I want you to admit it - not in a sarcastic smart-ass way - in a real, genuine admission of guilt kind of way. You're fucking with everyone, and it ends here."

Holtzmann shook her head slightly. She was done giving in and letting these idiots bully her into saying things she didn't mean. Going along with them wasn't helping her... She couldn't offer a genuine apology, or probably anything that sounded genuine. She also doubted Nick would even stop in that event. He just wanted to be an asshole. So she figured she might as well stand her ground and defend herself and her friends. If they were going to hurt her anyway, she might as well keep her pride.

"We didn't do anything wrong." She growled. "We did save the city from ghosts. Were you not there? Did you not see there were damn ghosts in the street? Like huge ones... Giant possessed parade balloons... I mean, come on..." She opened her eyes and stared up at him. "People uploaded videos of it to youtube..." She shook her head in shock that this guy could be this dense. How the hell did people end up like this? Denying things that everybody witnessed with their own eyes?

"So you're back to fucking lying?" Nick pulled her hair back further. "Either you're really that fucking crazy, or you're fucking with me."

"I'm not fucking with you." Holtzmann breathed. "And I'm not crazy. If you can't wrap your shriveled little brain around what there were literally thousands of witnesses to-"

She was cut off when Nick let go of her hair and slapped her hard across her cheek.

Holtzmann whimpered as her head snapped back and she stumbled further against Steve, who took the opportunity to hook his arm around both of hers so that he could hold her back against his chest and still have his other hand free. For the moment, he used that hand to grip her neck, further holding her back against his chest as Nick stepped forward.

There was a growl in his throat as Nick closed in on her. "You're pretty brave, girly. Or maybe the right word is stupid. Picking a fight with us?" He laughed as he stepped so close she could feel the heat of his body as he placed one hand on her side an the other against her cheek.

"I didn't pick a fight with you." She grimaced, flinching away from his hands.

"You did." He nodded, pressing his hand harder against her ribs. "Nobody likes being lied to." Without any more warning, he moved his hand off of her stomach only long enough to ball it into a fist and slam it down against her ribs.

Holtzmann choked out a pained wince and tried to shrink back as Steve held onto her even tighter and Nick pulled his arm back, ready to hit her again. "Don't!" She whimpered, trying to make herself smaller. He didn't listen. As his fist connected with her body again, Holtzmann sucked in a sharp, pained breath and tried to curl in on herself. Steve's hands holding her down by her arms and throat didn't allow her to shield herself from the other man in any way.

She choked out a shaking whimper as Nick took a step back and laughed. "You're telling me you fight real-life ghosts but you can't take a punch?"

Holtz felt angry as she pulled at her arms. "Get off of me!" She demanded.

Steve laughed as well, but didn't let go.

Holtzmann struggled harder, ignoring the fact that Nick stood in front of her smirking the whole time, clearly enjoying watching her fight with no favorable result.

Just as she was beginning to feel the utter frustration of her failure, Holtzmann managed to slip one arm out of Steve's grip. She opened her eyes and exhaled a surprised breath. If she used her free arm wisely, maybe this would be her way out of this. She felt a growl in her throat as she threw her elbow back against Steve's chest and stomped down on his foot at the same time.

As Nick closed in on her with a frown, ready to help his buddy, she gritted her teeth together and slammed her hand palm-up against his nose - just the way she'd taught herself to fend off bullies in middle school. Back then, no one messed with her again after she broke that first mean-girl's nose. She had gotten into a small bit of legal trouble when the police believed cheerleader Bridgette's story over hers... but none of Bridgette's minions came near her again...

So she thrust her hand up as quick and hard as possible, connecting with Nick's nose and clearly causing him pain as he yelped and stumbled back. Her palm hurt too, but she didn't care.

"God damn it!" Nick growled, putting a hand up to his now-bleeding nose and glaring down at her. She could see he had tears in his eyes, but he wasn't incapacitated enough to stop hurting her. Before she could even blink, he had balled his hand into a fist and hit her very hard across her face.

She fell back against Steve with a pained whimper as the man resumed his hold on her arms.

"I'll break your fucking jaw, you little cunt!" Nick screamed. He must not have thought anyone in the street could hear them either because he was clearly not trying to keep his voice down.

Holtzmann squeezed her eyes shut and tried to cower down as Steve held her tight with one arm hooked around both of hers again.

"Hold on!" Steve cut in as Nick stepped close. Holtzmann opened her eyes in time to see Steve's hand against his friend's chest, holding him back slightly, even though he could clearly still reach her if he wanted to. At the moment though, he simply stood with blood dripping down from his nose as he breathed in angry breaths.

"I'll fucking kill her." He growled, pulling his hands into fists and glaring down at Holtzmann.

"Nick..." Steve sounded like he was trying to calm his friend down. "I know you don't mean that... You're mad. I get it... And you can get her back for it..."

"Fuck yeah, I can." Nick agreed, pulling his arm back to hit her again as Holtzmann whimpered, squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to shrink down.

"Nick." Steve sounded serious and Holtzmann felt the man move and then heard the other man's feet stumbling back. She opened her eyes to see Steve had shoved Nick several paces away. "You don't have to let her get away with what she did... But you've gotta remember she's a weak little woman."

Holtzmann frowned, both wanting to be offended by that, and hoping Nick would agree and try to be less rough. If their sexism could do nothing else, at least maybe it would spare her from their full strength.

"You could seriously kill her if you don't hold back a little, man." Steve laughed. "I mean, go ahead and punch her if you want... Just remember, she's just a little thing."

Nick laughed too, but didn't really look any less pissed at her as he stepped back toward her. Holtzmann wasn't sure what he was going to do, but she certainly didn't want to find out.

Shrinking down and squeezing her eyes shut, she let out a small yelp as she leaned back against Steve's chest, using his body as leverage as she jumped up, kicking out as hard as she could. She felt her feet connect with something solid, and opened her eyes in time to see Nick falling back against the ground.

Holtzmann's eyes were wide and her mouth hung open as she stared down at the man in shock. She'd just kicked him... really hard... That had been her goal... But she was kind of surprised it had worked so well. He was on the ground for the moment, but he was going to be mad when he got back up, and he was going to get up... like now.

She thrashed her body as best as she could as she stomped down on Steve's feet. "Get off of me!" She screamed, hoping to scare both men away. If she was loud enough, maybe someone would hear her. They had to realize that... Surely they didn't want someone to walk by and witness them both beating up a tiny woman.

Of course, Holtzmann had made sure to come here when there would be no witnesses. That was a very conscious decision of hers. She didn't want anyone to see or hear her dumpster-diving excursion... That meant they weren't going to see or hear this either...

She also knew the more she fought, the more likely they'd decide she wasn't worth the effort. Fighting back often resulted in more pain for a moment, but eventually most assailants would get tired of putting so much effort into a victim who was uncooperative. Surely they weren't happy that she was kicking and hitting them back.

So she squirmed in Steve's grip, keeping her eyes on Nick as he rolled to the side on the ground in front of her, groaning in pain as he put his hand on his chest. She must have kicked him hard enough to really hurt... Which was good... but if she didn't get away from Steve soon, that just meant Nick was going to be more angry once he got back up.

"Let me go!" Holtzmann screamed, trying to be as loud as possible. "Don't touch me! Help!" She yelled.

"Stop it." Steve growled under his breath, spinning her around to face him and grabbing at her arms as he pushed her back against the brick wall of the alley, simultaneously knocking the breath out of her lungs and smacking the back of her head against the hard bricks. "Stop fighting." He demanded, slapping his hand over her mouth as he held down one of her hands next to her face. "Shut up, and hold still." Steve growled.

She didn't comply. She couldn't. She had to get away. With a whimper, Holtzmann continued thrashing under his hands, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through the back of her head and the fact that her lungs felt like they couldn't fill back up. She grabbed at the hand holding onto her other wrist and tried to pry it off of her, but didn't have long to try before he moved his other hand off her mouth in favor of pinning both of her wrists harshly against the wall.

"Get off of me!" Holtzmann immediately screamed now that her mouth wasn't covered. She squirmed under his hands and kicked out her feet.

"Stop screaming and fighting or you're gonna get hurt." Steve warned, squeezing her wrists and stepping so close to her that she could feel his chest pressing against her own. Now that he was so close, she realized how tall he was. Without looking up, she was eye-level with his chest.

Holtzmann tried to pull her wrists free as she kicked out at his shins. "Help me!" She screamed.

"Stop!" He growled in a more angry voice as he pulled her away from the wall just enough to slam her rather hard back into it. A sharp pain shot through the back of her head and she felt her breath knocked out of her lungs as he shoved her viciously against the wall several times. "Stop. Fucking. Fighting." He demanded, slamming her back again with each additional word until her whole body ached and her vision swam.

He let go of her and Holtzmann found herself sliding down the wall and onto the ground. She was out of breath and saw spots before her eyes. As she breathed in and out shaking, painful breaths, Holtzmann let her eyes start to close as she slumped forward, pretty much content to just pass out.

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	2. Chapter 2

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CHAPTER 2

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Holtzmann breathed shallow, pained breaths as she remained slumped against the brick wall of the alley. She felt so defeated, in so much pain... She could barely focus on anything but breathing. Steve had pushed her back against the wall pretty hard, more than once, and the back of her head hurt. She wouldn't be surprised if she had a concussion...

With a shaking hand and a small whimper, she reached weakly up toward the back of her head, feeling for blood. She wasn't sure if she felt any or not, until she brought her hand around and looked at her trembling fingers. There was only a small amount of blood on her fingertips, but it was enough for a soft sob to make its way out of her mouth.

She was scared. Not the exciting, adrenaline-charged fear she was used to, but instead something far more cold, dreadful, and terrifying. The blood on her fingertips was more than just a physical injury. It represented the fact that the situation she found herself in now was entirely out of her control. She was fully at the mercy of two cruel, violent men who didn't seem to have any mercy to show.

Holtzmann got hurt all the time. It was part of her job. Ghosts could get violent. Her inventions could get violent too - in a different way that she could shrug off and not get her feelings hurt over. Usually strange men didn't attack her out in the street for no real reason. Just knowing she was bleeding thanks to a random man hurting her on purpose scared the hell out of her. She liked to think most people in the world were good, that hardly anyone would ever want to do something like this... But she happened to be unlucky enough to have run into two of few people around who thought hurting her would be funny... and no one was around to stop them.

As she breathed out shaking sobs, with her chest tightening with each additional breathless gasp, she looked up toward Steve, who frowned back down at her. For the moment, he wasn't hurting her anymore. She had stopped fighting, because she wasn't sure she had the energy to even get up off of the ground... But Steve had eased up - maybe because she was staying still now... He was just standing over her, hovering somewhat threateningly, but not doing any more damage.

"Why do you keep fighting?" Steve frowned. He sounded kind of out of breath, and almost disappointed. "You've just gotta stop, Honey. I didn't want to hurt you like that. It's your own fault you're bleeding. You made me do that."

Holtzmann didn't say anything back. There wasn't really much to say. Instead, she sniffed back her tears and swallowed her sobs. Maybe this was over... Maybe realizing that he had actually hurt her was enough to scare Steve off. Maybe he didn't want to go to jail for serious assault. Maybe they would leave now...

But the other guy wasn't done. Nick was back up, and as Holtzmann had guessed, he was pretty mad. As he closed in on her, Holtzmann stared with wide, tear-filled eyes, shaking her head, but failing to find the proper words to beg for mercy. She put her hands in front of herself in defense, but he slapped them to the side with a growl in his throat.

He reached down, grabbing a fist-full of the vest she was wearing in each of his hands and hauling her up off the ground. She grabbed weakly at his hands, trying to pry them off of her.

"You bitch!" He grumbled, shoving her back just as soon as he'd dragged her to her feet.

Holtzmann stumbled backward and fell onto the ground, catching herself with her hands before rolling onto her stomach and struggling to drag herself up to her feet. She managed to stand long enough to stumble forward a few steps before she felt someone's hands on her again, yanking her backward and then slamming her face-first up against the rough wall.

With a shaking whimper, Holtzmann pressed her hands against the wall in an effort to push away whichever of the men who was shoving her from behind. It didn't work. He was too strong, and she was too hurt already. She was exhausted, and in so much pain.

She squeezed her eyes shut and winced as she felt him grab one of her wrists and twist her arm behind her back. He pressed his body against hers, holding her in place as he placed his other hand on the back of her head, pressing her cheek painfully against the wall.

"Let me go!" Holtzmann screamed, her voice trembling with tears.

He pressed her harder against the wall, squeezing her arm in his grip as she felt the harsh texture of the brick wall scraping against her cheek.

Holtzmann whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut. "Why are you doing this? What do you want?" She asked in a shaking voice.

He jerked her arm back hard, causing Holtz to let out a pained scream as she heard a popping sound and felt a harsh throbbing in her shoulder.

"Stop!" She sobbed, choking out shaking breaths as pain shot through her entire arm. "Please!" She whimpered.

She felt herself physically shaking as she noticed Steve walking up beside her. That meant it was Nick who was holding her, pulling her arm back so painfully.

"I don't know what you want..." Holtzmann breathed, staring up at Steve through her tears.

"I don't know what he wants either, Babe." Steve laughed, but there was a hint of something in his eyes that looked almost uneasy. "Might be mad that you kicked him and broke his fucking nose. I don't think he likes you." He stuck his lower lip out in a small pout, perhaps mocking Holtzmann's expression. "But I do, Sweetheart." He added, putting his hand lightly on her cheek. "Nick's right about you looking like you're crazy, but under all these rags, I'll bet you're pretty hot." He reached down toward her vest, but couldn't get too far thanks to Nick having her pinned face-first against the wall.

Holtzmann shook her head and tried to shrink away from his hand. "Don't touch me..." She breathed out a shaking, very fearful demand. His other hand was still on her cheek, but Nick had her head held pretty firmly against the wall. She couldn't shrug away from Steve's touch.

"Aww... Why not?" Steve stuck out his lower lip in a mock-pout as he put his hand on her upper arm, rubbing slowly up and down, clearly touching her just because she asked him not to.

"Stop!" Holtzmann whimpered.

"You want me to hold her down for you?" Nick offered with a breathless laugh. "Won't be hard to do... If she fights back, I'll just start snapping bones until she learns to fucking hold still. I'm kind of enjoying this, but I could take a break and let you have a go if you wanna fuck her, finger her or whatever."

Holtzmann's eyes widened as she stared up at Steve, trying again to pull her face and arm away from his hands.

"Oooh. That might be fun for us, huh, Sweetheart?" Steve asked with an amused smirk.

Holtzmann shook her head and pouted. "Let me go..." She whimpered. Her chest felt frozen, like her lungs had turned to ice inside of her. If Steve took his buddy up on that offer, what would she even do? There were two of them, and they were much stronger than she was. "Please don't do this..." Holtzmann added breathlessly, feeling herself shaking under Nick's grip as she stared up at Steve.

"You want her on the ground or here up against the wall?" Nick asked.

Holtzmann choked out a shaking sob as she pulled uselessly at her arms again. Her shoulder hurt so bad, and Nick's grip was so tight.

"Hmmm..." Steve cocked his head to the side as he stared down at her with thoughtful, narrowed eyes. "I don't know... She'd probably be easier to handle on the ground, but doing it standing up could be fun." He laughed.

Holtzmann shook her head and breathed in and out a shaking breath as she looked through her tears at Steve. "Please let me go..." She whimpered. "Don't do this... Let me go..."

Steve smiled as he put his hand lightly on her cheek, brushing a loose curl out of her eyes. "What, you don't think it'll be fun to wiggle outta all those 1920s paperboy clothes and let us see what you've got going on underneath?" Steve ran his fingers along the top of her vest again, rubbing his thumb over the top button. "As long as you play nice, Nick won't even have to hold you down. We won't hurt you if you just be good."

"Stop!" She yelled at him and tried to jerk her body away from his hands.

Nick laughed from behind her as he held her tighter.

She yanked at her arms again, rather uselessly as all she succeeded in doing was to cause her shoulder further pain. Holtzmann's chest felt cold and her lungs felt stuck, unable to fully expand. She felt lightheaded, like she could faint at any moment. She didn't know what to do. Begging and pleading didn't seem to work. Telling them what they wanted to hear hadn't worked. Fighting back certainly hadn't either.

"You're right, Steve... What you said earlier. She is kinda hot in a weird way. Almost couldn't tell because the way she dresses, but she's got a cute little body." Nick noted, moving his hand off the back of her head and running it down over her back and toward her waist.

Holtzmann reached up with her free hand and grabbed at his, but it only made him press his hand against her harder, running between her stomach and the wall and trying to force its way up under her shirt.

With a frightened wince, Holtzmann squeezed her eyes shut, jerking her head backward now that Nick wasn't holding it against the wall. She had hoped to hit his nose, but he was so tall. She just hit him square in the chest. It did her no good, but it did seem to make him mad.

"She's fuckin' asking for it at this point." Nick growled spinning her around and forcing her roughly down against the pavement. He grabbed her throat, squeezing to the point where she couldn't breathe as he pinned her legs down with his knees. "How do you wanna do this?" He asked of his friend.

Holtzmann squeezed her eyes shut as she clawed at the hand gripping around her throat. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't speak. Mouthing the word 'please,' she felt tears filling her eyes.

"Be careful, Nick..." Steve sounded kind of worried. "I know you're mad... But don't accidentally kill her."

"I won't." Nick laughed, but didn't loosen his grip around her throat. "You want to go first, or you want me to?" He asked, putting his free hand on Holtzmann's hip and pushing it up under her shirt.

"Uh... I don't know about this, man..." Steve sounded hesitant as he forced a nervous laugh. "I was just kidding about you holding her down while I, uh..." He trailed off. "I mean, she's cute and all... But I don't don't want to force her to do that... You do know I was just kidding, right?"

"Why?" Nick frowned, gripping Holtzmann's throat tighter as he put his other hand against her chest, pressing down hard and squeezing at the same time. "We might as well. We've made it this far. We've done this much... Why not take this all the way? She's right here, man... If she goes to the cops, we're screwed anyway, so let's get some fun out of it."

"I don't know... it was fun before, but this feels increasingly serious." Steve offered another uncomfortable chuckle and Holtzmann heard the shuffle of his feet as he shifted from one foot to the other nearby.

She opened her eyes for a moment, trying to see through her tears as she struggled to inhale. Her hands were growing more and more desperate as she grabbed at Nick's fingers, failing to pry them off of her throat. She pushed up against the cold pavement with her feet and shoulders and she squeezed her eyes back shut and continued uselessly clawing at his hands. She was pretty sure she was scratching her own skin in the process, but couldn't bother to care at the moment. She only wanted to breathe again.

"Nick, I really don't think we should do this." Steve went on. "And I don't think she can breathe..."

"You do what you want?" Holtzmann heard Nick's response, though he was beginning to sound far away. "I'm gonna make her pay for kicking me, and hitting me. And for just being a sarcastic condescending little bitch. She fucking deserves this." He grumbled as he squeezed his hand tight around her throat and groped painfully at her chest. Perhaps he really was going to strangle her to death, whether on purpose or not. Her ears were ringing at this point and she was starting to feel numb all over. She could feel her own hands growing less coordinated as her body started to give up.

"Why don't you ease up a bit, Nick?" Steve requested. His voice sounded muddled, like he was part of a distant dream she was trying to recall. "She can't breathe. You're gonna kill her." He was clearly starting to feel uncomfortable with this whole thing. It seemed there were lines he wouldn't cross. Maybe sexual assault and choking someone half to death were over those lines.

Holtzmann felt her hands fall to the side as she no longer had the energy to keep fighting. She didn't know if her eyes were open or not. She knew everything looked like smoke and stars. Maybe glitter. Her head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton and her hands felt numb.

Just when Holtzmann was beginning to welcome passing out, and maybe even death, Nick loosened his grip enough for her to suck in several shaking, desperate breaths as she squeezed her eyes shut tighter. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she focused first and foremost on simply breathing. She coughed painfully as she gulped down oxygen between shaking sobs. Holtzmann wasn't one to cry normally, but she couldn't help herself now. Her tears seemed to be brought on by a mixture of pain and fear and of sadness in knowing that seconds ago she was sort of hoping Nick would finish her off. It was both scary and devastating to her to know that these men had emotionally drained her that much - to the point where she was almost okay with dying as a way out.

She felt almost like she was freezing as she breathed in shaking, desperate, painful breaths. Her eyes remained closed tightly as her body trembled. She could no longer tell if she was actually cold or if she was just that scared. She had lost track of where Nick's hands had gone. For now, she was just glad he wasn't choking her anymore.

Her eyes quickly shot open though, when she felt Nick's hand on her vest, pulling the garment open in one quick, rough gesture. "Stop!" She screamed in a raspy voice, grabbing at his hands as he went for her shirt under the vest next, ripping it open so that buttons scattered around them. Holtzmann's chest and stomach felt instantly cold as the chill air hit her skin.

"Don't touch me! Stop!" Holtzmann sobbed, bringing her shaking hands up toward her shirt and pulling it back closed.

She tried to curl in on herself as Nick grabbed at her hands, pulling them away from her chest before slamming a fist down against her ribs. She couldn't move. So she settled on a breathless, pained, shaking wince.

"Maybe we're taking this too far, Nick..." Steve spoke up from a few feet away.

Holtzmann blinked, staring past Nick's shoulder. Tears still rolled down her cheeks as her sobs faded into confused, shaking breaths. For whatever reason, Steve didn't seem to be enjoying tormenting her anymore. He'd been pretty rough before, but this must have crossed some line he wasn't comfortable with. Maybe Steve was going to be her way out... Nick hadn't listened to his friend yet, but maybe if Steve persisted, he would.

"Please..." She spoke in a shaking whisper as she stared up at Steve with wide, tear-fulled eyes. "Make him stop..." She felt tears choking her up as her frantic breaths shook. "Please don't let him do this." She whimpered.

Holtzmann winced and brought her hands back toward Nick's as he groped at her chest, squeezing one hand over her bra and running the other down to her hip, and then back up across her stomach, over her ribs, and toward her other breast.

"Don't!" Holtzmann screamed, grabbing desperately at his hand as he forced his fingers up under her bra. "Get off of me! Don't touch me! Stop!" She screamed louder and louder until Nick slammed his hand down hard across her face with a frustrated growl.

"Shut your fucking mouth." He demanded, grabbing his hand around her throat again and squeezing threateningly for a few seconds before moving back down to her chest. "Stop fighting. Stop screaming. If you can't keep your little mouth shut, I'll drag you up to your knees and cram my dick down your throat. See how much you can scream and bitch then."

Holtzmann clamped her mouth shut as she stared up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. She felt so cold, almost numb, as her entire body was filled with crushing fear.

Nick grabbed both of her wrists in one hand and pinned them up over her head before glancing up toward his friend. "You sure you don't want play with her a little bit while I've got her down here? You might want to go first because I'm gonna fuckin' wreck her." He laughed. "I will make absolutely no effort to be careful. She pissed me off one too many times. She's all yours if you want her first though... You don't even have to be rough if it makes you feel bad."

She shrunk down and whimpered as Nick ran his hand slowly up her stomach again, pushing his finger tips up under her bra. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "Please..." She choked out, scared to scream or beg too loudly, but unable to keep herself completely quiet. She opened her eyes back up and stared at Steve, who still looked uneasy. "Please let me go... Don't let him do this... He's hurting me... Make him stop, Steve..." She whispered as she and he made eye contact with him.

"Shut up, Honey." Nick warned again, squeezing her wrists for emphasis as he pushed his whole hand up under her bra. His fingers were warm, but rough, maybe even sweaty. His hand felt dirty against her skin, and his squeezing gesture was more than embarrassing. It was painful.

Holtzmann couldn't help but to choke out a frightened, defeated sob as she could do nothing to get his hands off of her. She so desperately wanted to fight, to beg him to stop touching her... but he had made himself pretty clear. He would hurt her if she kept pleading. He would hit her or choke her, and keep doing what he was doing anyway.

"I don't know about this anymore, man..." Steve sounded very hesitant as he spoke a variation of what he'd already said over and over. Holtzmann needed him to be more demanding. "I don't think I like this. Maybe it's time to go..." Steve suggested.

"What?" Nick laughed, squeezing both of his hands harder. "You're gonna pass this up?" He nodded down toward Holtzmann who felt herself physically shaking as she tugged uselessly at her trapped arms. "I bet you'd change your mind once you get started. Get down here. She's so soft and warm..." He noted as he squeezed her breast in his hand. "She looks like a homeless kid at first glance, but damn... Under this thrift shop shit, she's really hot. Just come feel her tits. That'll change your mind."

"I don't think so, man... This is wrong. We should call it done. Let her go. We had our fun..." Steve went on. "I don't see any need to take this any further."

"No." Nick shook his head. "If you don't want a go at her, fine. But I'm going to."

As he reached down toward the button on Holtzmann's pants, she tried to thrash under his body. Holding still and not fighting while he groped her chest was painful and humiliating, but she wasn't going to allow this without quite a struggle. "Don't touch me!" She screamed as she squirmed under him.

Nick raised his fist up, causing Holtzmann to shrink down, squeeze her eyes shut, and wince as he hit her across her face again.

She whimpered as she blinked her eyes back open and stared back at Steve, who looked nervous, but wasn't moving to help her. "Make him stop!" She begged in a frantic, breathless, pained voice. When that didn't work, she screamed as loud as she could, hoping anyone else on earth might hear her. "Help me! Somebody help me! Heeelllp! Heeellllp!" She kept screaming until Nick hit her hard in the ribs, and then across the face again and slammed his hand down over her mouth.

"Shut the fuck up." Nick growled, pulling at the button on her pants, choosing to completely tear it off rather than to just unhook it.

Holtz tried to shake her head under his hand as she made eye contact with Steve again, who was looking increasingly nervous. Fresh sobs shook Holtzmann's body as she tried to shrink away from Nick's rough hands.

"Nick..." Steve frowned, putting his hand lightly on his friend's shoulder. "I think that's enough... You need to stop."

"Come on, Steve. What, are you a fag now? This is the best part!" Nick laughed, gripping the waistband of Holtzmann's pants and tugging downward.

"Nick. Stop." Steve sounded much more serious now. "Look at her... You're being cruel."

"So?" Nick frowned, but let go of her pants. He kept his hand over her mouth though, and his knees still pinned her legs painfully down against the ground. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I am. Let's let her go... I'm not a rapist, Nick... This was kinda funny at first, but I'm not having fun anymore. She's crazy, but hot and it was funny... but this isn't sexy or fun. This is fucking sad." Steve spoke, squatting down and putting his hand lightly on Holtzmann's shoulder. "We're gonna let you go, Honey." He said to her.

Holtzmann swallowed nervously, trying to pull her arm away from his touch. Nick's hand was still crushed painfully over the bottom half of her face, and she wasn't confident he was going to go along with his friend's wishes.

"Just give me five minutes, Steve. You don't have to stay and watch. You don't have to fuck her. This doesn't have to have anything to do with you. I'll try not to be too rough if that makes you feel better." Nick suggested with an eye roll. "Even though she fucking earned it by hitting me in the nose and kicking me."

Holtzmann felt her lower lip trembling under his hand as tears filled her eyes again. She reached her hands up toward Nick's arm, trying to pull his hand off of her mouth. He grabbed one of her wrists and pinned it against the asphalt as his angry stare was enough to convince her other hand to stop struggling.

"No." Steve disagreed. "I can't condone that... She's making me feel bad... Nick, look at her eyes. She's fucking terrified. And you're really hurting her... A lot more than necessary. We've got to draw the line somewhere, and I think this is it. You've gotta stop. Just look at her eyes, man."

Holtzmann stared breathlessly up at him as Nick did as his friend asked, staring down into her wide eyes as he narrowed his.

Nick shook his head. "Nope. Don't feel bad at all."

"Well, I do, and you're not gonna rape her." Steve persisted, sounding increasingly annoyed. "I'm not gonna fucking let you. Get up."

"Steve, we both beat her up already. You didn't care before." Nick sounded so disappointed.

"I know..." Steve frowned. "But it was funny when we were pushing her a little and joking around. I was aiming more toward school-yard bully than violent prison-rapist. I was just messing around... Punching her across the face, strangling her half to death, and breaking her fucking ribs while trying to rape her is a bit excessive. Jesus, Nick..." He shook his head as though in disbelief at what his friend was capable of. "She looks so fucking scared. And you clearly hurt her, man... like too much."

"No shit." Nick laughed. "That's why it's funny."

Steve shook his head. "Not to me... Not anymore. I think we took it too far, and I'm not gonna let it go any further. I'm not about to go to prison for rape and attempted murder - or being an accomplice to you doing it. Let her go, or I'm gonna make you."

Holtzmann could see Nick glaring at his friend with obvious anger in his eyes. "Fine..." With a loud exhale, Nick pushed his hand further down against Holtzmann's face, leaning down close and whispering into her ear. "Scream, and I'll break your fucking throat. Got it?"

Holtzmann swallowed, but nodded as best as she could. She remained lying flat on the ground as Nick dragged himself up off of her. She was scared to move.

"Alright..." Steve squatted down next to her, pulling her up to a sitting position and resting his hand on her collar. "Don't go to the police... As long as nothing more comes from this, you'll not see us again. Okay?"

Holtzmann nodded quickly. Whatever it took to get them to leave.

"I mean it, Honey... You saw how close Nick was to just ravishing you out here in the fucking street. If the police come sniffing around... I'm not gonna be able to convince him to stop next time." Steve went on.

"I swear to fucking god, if I even think you've gone to the police, I'll come back... and I'm not going to go easy on you next time." Nick agreed. "I'll kick the shit out of you, fuck you, and then kill you. I'm not kidding. I will strangle you to fucking death while my dick's still inside you. Don't say shit about this to anyone."

"Okay..." She breathed.

"Good." Steve forced a slight smile and petted her hair. "Sorry about all that, Sweetheart... Have a good night." He stood up and walked away, placing his hand on his friend's back, probably to keep the guy from changing his mind and coming back.

Holtzmann cowered down as she watched them leave. As soon as they were gone, she felt her lip shaking as her vision blurred with tears. She wanted to jump up and run away, just in case... but she also just wanted to sit here and cry.

She chose the later option, pulling her knees up against her chest, hugging her arms around them, and sobbing.

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	3. Chapter 3

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CHAPTER 3

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When Holtzmann finally dragged herself up onto shaking feet, she wasn't sure if she had the energy or emotional strength to get herself all the way back home. She kind of just wanted to find a place where she could be alone and locked away from the world, so she could assess her injuries, clean herself up, and just lie there in pain until she fell asleep. She couldn't think of anything else reasonable to do...

So she headed toward the firehouse - the Ghostbusters headquarters. She was already close, and it was nearing midnight. No one else would be there for hours. She could get cleaned up, decide if she had any life-threatening injuries that would require more medical care than she could give herself, and then decide from there if she wanted to try to make it home, to the hospital, or just sleep under her work bench.

She forced herself to exit the alley, cowering down as she stepped out onto the sidewalk and looked around. She wondered if Nick and Steve were still around somewhere. What if they were watching her? She didn't see anyone else out walking around. There were no lights on in the surrounding buildings. If the men who had attacked her were watching, they were being discreet about it.

Swallowing nervously, she headed down the street. Her destination was only a six or seven minute walk... but that time felt like forever when she considered that her attackers had six or seven minutes to change their minds and come back if they wanted to. Six or seven minutes until she could feel an ounce of safety meant six or seven minutes feeling completely unsafe first.

As she walked, she felt herself shaking, and as her mind ran over the events she'd just suffered through, she felt tears in her eyes. It seemed like such a long walk now... and she was in pain, and still scared. She kind of wanted to be alone now, but at the same time, she wished someone she knew and trusted would show up in front of her and hug her tight, promise her they'd make everything better, even if realistically she knew no one could fix this.

The police station was on the way... if she really wanted to, she could go straight there. Obviously she'd been warned not to... but if she didn't do something to get these guys in trouble, the thought of their presence being unknown for the rest of her life was going to keep her scared forever... But what if the police didn't do anything? The men could deny the whole thing. It would be their word against hers... and then if they got away with it without jail time, they'd know she had gone to the police... They'd be mad. They might really come back and kill her - like they said.

Holtzmann looked down at the sidewalk as she passed the police station. Two cops were standing out on the sidewalk smoking. She averted eye contact, hugging her arms around herself, hoping the fact that her shirt and vest were torn open wouldn't draw in their attention.

"Ma'am?" One of them spoke, causing Holtzmann's heart to freeze in her chest.

With a shaking breath, Holtzmann picked up her pace. She'd just pretend she didn't hear that.

"Miss! Hey!" The police officer jogged after her, putting his hand on her shoulder and stopping her in her tracks.

"Yeah?" She whispered, forcing herself to turn around, but unable to make herself look up into his eyes. She could feel her body shaking. Hopefully the cop didn't notice.

"You're Miss Holtzmann, right? The Ghostbuster?" He sounded so happy. He didn't notice how messed up she was right now.

"Yeah." She affirmed, hugging her arms tighter around herself and staring down at the cop's shoes.

"Wow... You know, I just want to thank you for what you guys do." He gushed. "You ladies are awesome."

"Oh..." Holtzmann breathed and nervous laugh. "Thanks..."

"Are you alright?" The cop finally asked, his excitement quickly melting away.

Holtzmann nodded quickly as she kept her eyes down, afraid looking up would give the guy too many clues. Her cheek was probably bruised, and she definitely had been crying. She probably had dirt and grime all over her too.

"What happened to you?" The cop sounded even more worried as he took a step back so he could look her up and down.

Holtz shook her head. "N-nothing..." She stuttered, trying to think of what do say. What if Nick and Steve were watching right now? From a distance, they wouldn't know that she wasn't telling this cop every detail of what they had done... What was she supposed to do?

The cop hesitated for a moment. Holtzmann wondered if she should blurt out excuses right away while she still could, before his suspicions got too strong, or if she should just run away. He couldn't arrest her for just leaving, right? She was the one who had been attacked. She didn't commit a crime. She was a victim of someone else's crime. She didn't have to talk to this guy, right? He couldn't make her...

"Why don't you come inside?" The cop offered with a furrowed brow.

"No..." She refused. "I'm fine. J-just drunk." She stammered.

"Drunk?" He frowned.

"Yeah... Anyway, I gotta go..." She forced a nervous laugh.

"I think you should come in and talk to me for a minute." He urged.

She shook her head, stepping back. "I don't want to..." She breathed.

"Whatever happened, I can help..." He went on. "Will you please come in?"

Holtzmann shook her head again, swallowing back tears. "Am I under arrest? I can't just go?" Her voice shook. "I didn't do anything wrong... I just want to go..."

The cop stared at her with wide eyes.

"I'm really drunk... I just want to go home..." Holtzmann lied, hating that her voice was still shaking worse than it ever had in her life. "I didn't do anything wrong..." She pleaded. "Please just let me go..."

"You're not under arrest." He frowned. "I won't force you to come in... But I think it's a good idea."

Holtzmann shook her head.

The police officer's shoulders slumped. "Please come in? I promise we can help."

She shook her head again, taking steps backward.

"Please?" He repeated.

"No..." She started stumbling back more quickly. "I gotta go. Bye." She finally turned and quickened her pace to a near jog. She wanted to look back to see if the police man was following her, but she also didn't want to look even more suspicious than she already did.

She was also putting a fair amount of effort into keeping herself from sobbing again as she walked briskly down the street, trying to stay composed just long enough. She could cry when she was alone, when no one would see or hear her and ask questions. It felt entirely wrong for her to have refused the cop's help. She wanted his help. She wanted him to tell her he'd keep Steve and Nick away forever, and she wanted herself to be able to believe him... But she just couldn't risk asking for help and not getting enough to keep her safe. She couldn't trust that the cop could fully fix this.

She finished her trek to the fire station, her heart pounding in her chest the whole time. There was so much to be worried about here... Those men really didn't like her, and both of them were willing to hurt her for it. That was a fact. While the one had a limit, he had still hurt her too. They were both terrifying.

And now she had inadvertently screwed up and talked to a cop right out in the open. If the men had been watching her, they probably didn't like that. They didn't know what she said to the man. They didn't know that she had denied that anything had happened and didn't tell the cop a single thing about them. So she didn't even tell the cops... but probably wasn't going to get credit for it. They might come back anyway - thinking she had gone against their orders.

For now, she just had to get inside the office, lock the door behind her, and let herself feel an ounce of safety. She didn't know what she was going to do in the long-run, but for now, if she just got away from the world and hid for a minute, she'd be okay. Okay enough... Until she had to go on with life at least.

She rushed up toward the door to the fire station, ignoring the pain in her ribs as she jogged. She fished her key out of her pocket, unlocked the door, and went inside - the whole place was dark. No one was here. Good. That's what she had hoped for. That meant she'd have time alone to clean herself up and decide what to do.

Locking the door behind her, she headed upstairs where the bathrooms were. She needed to find a mirror and look over the damage. She also needed to learn how to fix a dislocated shoulder, because she was pretty sure Nick had dislocated hers.

Holtz made her way toward the bathroom, opening the door and flipping on the light as she stood in the doorway, staring at herself in the mirror. She really did look fucking awful. No wonder the cop had been suspicious.

Bits of her hair stuck out in ways weirder than usual... She reached up, dragging a leaf out of the tangled strands with her fingers and tossing it to the floor. She put her fingertips up to her face. Her cheek did look like it was bruised - or at least smudged with dirt. Her other cheek had a somewhat large scrape on it from being forced up against the brick wall. And it was painfully obvious that she had been sobbing. Her face was definitely dirty, because she could see tear tracks through the thin later of dirt and grime.

As she stared at herself in the mirror, Holtzmann felt her lip start to tremble as her breaths became more uneven. She felt like she was going to cry again. She was so mad at herself for letting this happen. She wasn't supposed to be a victim. She was supposed to be a hero. She was smart, strong, quick... A good fighter. She was good at out-thinking opponents. When she was out-matched physically, she was usually able to trick or otherwise outwit... So how had this happened? How had she lost so miserably to these two stupid idiots - one of whom smelled very much like had had been drinking? She felt like such a failure. She felt weak and embarrassed.

Holtzmann had battled ghosts as big as buildings. She had faced bullies as a child, all sorts of adults who thought she was crazy or otherwise dumb for believing the things she did about spirits and their place in the scientific world. She had held her own in so many battles - both physical and intellectual... and maybe she had made Nick and Steve feel dumb here and there, but she had most certainly not won tonight. She lost... and she lost hard. She wasn't even trying to be smart or sarcastic near the end... She had fumbled even there... By the end, all she was doing was crying. She must have looked so pathetic.

She inhaled a shaking breath and blinked back her tears. At least it was over now. Maybe they had gotten away with hurting her... she couldn't go back in time and magically gain super-strength. There was nothing she could do to fix what had already been done. She just had to move on. Maybe she could just pretend it never happened. Try to move on with her life, be more careful... Maybe dumpster-diving wasn't really necessary.

She felt tears in her eyes again as her lip trembled. She didn't want to give up dumpster diving... But she was scared to even leave the building at this point. Holtzmann wasn't supposed to be scared of the world. She was brave... but she didn't feel brave now.

With a shake of her head, in an attempt to rid her mind of all thoughts other than making sure she didn't have internal bleeding or broken bones, Holtzmann swallowed, inhaled a deep breath, and looked down at her ribs, pulling her shirt open and running her fingers along a purple bruise forming there. Nick had punched her pretty hard.

She didn't think her ribs were broken though. They hurt like hell, but they didn't look like they were sticking out at any odd angles. They could be cracked... But no obvious break. Nothing that would kill her, so that was good enough for now.

As she was focused on the darkening bruise, Holtzmann didn't even notice that someone was walking up behind her. She had no idea until their hand came down lightly on her shoulder.

She let out a startled scream, throwing her elbow back hard against the solid chest of whoever it was as she inadvertently shrunk down and squeezed her eyes shut in fear. "Get off of me!" She screamed. "Don't touch me!"

"Jillian!" The person gasped in a voice she recognized.

Holtzmann breathed out a shaking breath as she spun herself around and stared up. It was Kevin. He looked concerned. She felt her shoulders slump as her fear melted off and was replaced with confusion. "Kevin?" She frowned.

"Yeah..." He frowned too as he looked her up and down. "What happened to you?"

She blinked up at him. A part of her felt what she could only describe as extreme relief. He was a familiar face - someone she knew, someone she basically trusted... He wasn't her best friend in the world, but she knew him, and knew he was on her side. He'd help her with this if she asked... But she didn't want to ask. She had come here because she didn't want any help just yet - or maybe ever.

"Jillian?" Kevin frowned as he continued staring down at her. "You alright?"

Holtzmann shook her head, deciding to ignore the question for now. He wasn't supposed to be here. No one was supposed to see her like this. "What are you doing here?" She asked a question of her own in a breathless voice.

"Abby said I didn't have to come in 'til eleven today." He shrugged.

Holtzmann furrowed her brow. The group had gone out last night and stayed out late. They all agreed to not come in until eleven the next morning... Kevin hadn't ever shown up. Holtz just assumed he was hung over or didn't know how to tell time. He wasn't that useful, so his work wasn't really all that missed. It seemed like he thought Abby meant he didn't need to come in until eleven o' clock at night.

"She meant in the morning, Kevin." Holtzmann frowned.

"There's not an eleven in the morning." Kevin shook his head and rolled his eyes as though Holtzmann had just suggested something impossible.

"Yeah there is. After ten. Before noon." Holtzmann couldn't believe this guy.

"No. Day starts at eight." Kevin began, counting on his fingers as he continued. "Then nine, one-zero, one-one, one-two. Then one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, second-eight, second-nine, ten, eleven, midnight."

"Oh my god..." Holtzmann muttered to herself, closing her exhausted eyes and exhaling as she pressed her fingertips up against her temple. Ordinarily she was quite amused by Kevin's misunderstanding of everything around him. She couldn't find the patience for it at the moment though. How did this guy survive out in the world?

"Anyway... You don't look so good." Kevin frowned.

Holtzmann looked down at herself. Her shirt was hanging open again, so that only her black sports bra covered her. Of course, Kevin didn't seem to care or feel embarrassed by things like that, so she decided she shouldn't either. As far as she knew, Kevin expressed no romantic interest in any of them, which was very good for a working relationship - not so good for Erin's poor love-sick heart.

"What happened?" Kevin asked again, still looking worried.

"I, uh..." Holtzmann looked down again and shrugged. She hadn't been prepared to run into anyone here. She didn't have an answer. She wanted to say something funny and distracting, but she couldn't come up with anything. What could she say? Why were her clothes torn? Why was she covered in bruises? Something funny... Something she could laugh off... It shouldn't have been this hard... It was Kevin here. She only needed to convince Kevin that it was something that didn't matter. She could just say the wind knocked her down and he'd probably believe it.

"Did someone mug you or something?" Kevin's voice was increasingly concerned. "Are you okay, Jillian?" He put his fingers under her chin and tilted her face up.

Holtzmann felt her chest growing tight and her lip quivering as she stared up into his eyes. He looked genuinely upset, as though he really, truly did care that she was obviously hurt. Sometimes it was hard to tell if he cared about anyone but himself, but if she had to guess, in that moment, she would say he was honestly worried for her sake. But she didn't want him to be. Not right now. She wanted him to be oblivious like usual. Why was he asking her about this? He never noticed anything.

"Jillian..." He said in a smaller voice when she still hadn't answered. "Did somebody hurt you?"

"No." She lied, shaking her head, but refusing to make eye contact. "Nothing... It was nothing." She mumbled.

"That doesn't look like nothing." Kevin frowned. "If someone did something, we've gotta tell the police. You look like someone beat you up. You can't let 'em get away with it."

She felt tears stinging her eyes again as she bit her lower lip.

"Is that what happened?" Kevin sounded surprised now. Maybe he hadn't honestly believed his own guesses, but her reaction was giving her away. "Did someone out there do this to you?"

She stared back at him, not sure what to say. If she told Kevin the truth, he'd pressure her to go to the cops... but she couldn't do that... Or what if he told someone else just because he couldn't keep a secret? Telling him meant Abby, Erin, and Patty would probably find out. If Kevin didn't make her go to the cops, one of the others would.

"You can tell me." Kevin went on. "If somebody hurt you, I can help you decide what to do about it. I had a friend when I was small who got bullied by this bigger kid... I confronted the bully for him, and the other kid left him alone after that."

"What do you mean by 'confronted?'" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

Kevin shrugged one shoulder, leaning down slightly and speaking in a lower voice. "Punched him." He forced a grin.

Holtzmann felt a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. She appreciated Kevin's support, but she doubted he would be a very helpful brainstorming partner, and certainly didn't want him finding these guys and punching them. She couldn't say she cared what his advice on this might be either. It would probably be something ridiculous.

"Please tell me, Jillian." Kevin frowned. "I can tell something happened. Someone did something, and it's breaking my heart that you won't let me help you." He sounded so genuinely sad, as though her keeping this from him was the most painful experience of his life. It made her feel bad... But not bad enough to give in. She couldn't tell him.

Holtzmann bit her lower lip and swallowed, blinking back tears before closing her eyes and exhaling a shaking breath. Maybe Kevin could help her without knowing any details. "Do you know how to fix a dislocated shoulder?" She asked, opening her eyes again and looking up at him.

Kevin hesitated. "Um... I might... I uh..." He frowned and offered a sort of shrug. "I think I probably could."

Holtzmann grimaced. The uncertainty of that answer didn't sound promising.

"Why? Is your shoulder dislocated?" He stared, stepping forward and reaching toward her arm. "Let me see."

Holtzmann stepped back, putting her hand protectively over her injured shoulder as she stared at Kevin with wide eyes. "Never mind..." She shook her head.

Kevin stopped and stared down at her with a look on his face she could only describe as disappointment. "Jillian, it's either this or I take you to the hospital. You can't just tell me your shoulder's dislocated and then back away. We've gotta fix it."

Holtzmann swallowed. He was right. The shoulder did need to be fixed, and she knew if she went to the hospital, people were gonna ask questions she didn't want to answer.

"We can look up a video of how to do it on youtube." Kevin suggested.

This made Holtzmann's frown dissolve into a full pout.

"Or I can take you to the hospital." Kevin reminded her.

Holtzmann felt her chest growing tight again as tears sprung back to her eyes. She exhaled a shaking breath and bit her lower lip. This was a nightmare. She couldn't go to the hospital, but Kevin was the last person she would have wanted to help her with something that could be so painful if he screwed up.

Kevin frowned, shifting on his feet as he looked down at Holtzmann, who was having a very difficult time staying composed right now. She felt tears stinging her eyes as her throat felt tight and dry. She didn't know what to do. What Nick and Steve had done to her was so terrifying, painful, and degrading... and she couldn't even be sure it was all over.

She looked up at Kevin as she silently debated with herself what to do. A part of her really wanted to tell him everything. She wanted someone to support her in this - to promise to watch her back as much as possible so that they couldn't hurt her again. But Steve and Nick had warned her not to tell anyone... and Holtzmann knew in her heart that this might be easiest to deal with if she didn't have anyone pressuring her to go to the police or the hospital. The more Kevin knew, the more he'd probably worry and insist she do something about it.

"We've got to do something." Kevin spoke in a very calm, even tone. "I know it's scary... but if you're hurt, we've gotta make it better. I can try to do it, or I can get you to someone who knows more about it. We've got to do one or the other."

Holtzmann swallowed and looked down. She really didn't want to deal with it at all. She wondered what would happen if she just left it. Maybe it would pop itself back in place if she just tried to ignore it... She knew that wasn't how these things worked... but going to the hospital sounded dreadful and scary. Trusting Kevin to fix it sounded even scarier.

"Jillian... Do you want a hug?" Kevin finally asked, seeming to understand that what she needed more than a solution to her injury in this moment was simple comfort from someone willing to not ask questions for a minute.

Holtzmann sniffed back her tears and nodded. "Yeah." She squeaked in a tiny whisper.

"Come here." Kevin stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close in an embrace that was secure, but still gentle and mindful of her hurt shoulder.

Holtzmann laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes as she felt his hand on the back of her head, sort of petting her hair.

The two of them stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Holtzmann was glad Kevin seemed to understand the sometimes lost art of not having to fill every silent moment with mindless chatter. Holtzmann didn't know what to say, so she said nothing, and for the moment, Kevin was willing to go along with it.

xxxxxx


	4. Chapter 4

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CHAPTER 4

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Holtzmann felt herself relaxing in Kevin's arms. For the moment, she was safe. Even if Nick and Steve planned to come back, for right now, she knew they weren't going to get to her. Kevin wasn't always all there in the head, but he was a caring person, and he could probably kick those guy's asses if he wanted to. She wondered if maybe she really should tell Kevin what happened. She could tell him it had to remain a secret and ask him to travel with her any time she would have otherwise been alone. He could be like her body-guard. Just until she felt safe again. She was bound to feel safe again eventually. Statistically, most people who would attack a stranger in the street didn't go after the same person again later. Steve and Nick would probably leave her alone as long as it didn't look like she'd gone to the police...

Of course, sometime criminals and sexual predators did attack the same person twice... She really couldn't tell which kind of violent brutes these men were, and certainly didn't want to find out they were willing to attack her again only after they had already done it... When exactly would she feel safe going out on her own again if she didn't go to the police and these men stayed free? How long would Kevin be willing to play body-guard?

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, noticing he was staring down at her too. They made eye contact before Holtzmann offered a quick smile and looked back down. She wondered if Kevin would be willing to put that much effort into this ordeal. It might be literally forever before Holtzmann felt safe going anywhere by herself.

"You know, I look up to you, Jillian." Kevin spoke up.

"What?" Holtzmann pulled back slightly and looked up at the receptionist with furrowed brows.

"I really admire you." He rephrased.

"Oh..." Holtz looked down. "Thanks..." She bit her lower lip. She wasn't sure she felt like someone to be looked up to at the moment. She felt weak and victimized. She didn't feel strong or brave... or anything else someone should look up to. Not right now. She clearly hadn't handled Nick and Steve appropriately. They started off joking around and ended up beating her up and trying to rape her. Was it because she was that bad at de-escalating a situation? She hadn't meant to make them mad... but she certainly did just that. Maybe if she would have just agreed to go to get coffee with them none of this would have happened... Maybe they didn't like her tone or the jokes she tried to make... But then, she knew she shouldn't have to force herself to go on dates with weird men just so they wouldn't attack her. And they weren't entitled to hurt her just because they felt threatened by her wit. It was their fault and only their fault that they had chosen to hurt her... but she still felt embarrassed and defeated by it. She should have seen it coming and had a plan to avoid it. She was intelligent, quick, witting, and strong right? Why hadn't she found her way out of this?

"I mean it." Kevin went on. "You're smart and brave. Really capable... You dress how you like regardless of what people say."

Holtzmann frowned. "What people?" She wondered.

"Hm?" Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"What people are saying something about the way I dress?" Holtzmann specified with a pout. She wasn't aware of this...

"Oh." Kevin laughed. "Nobody. I mean, probably some people. I don't know. You just dress kinda weird, and that takes confidence. I like it."

"Hm... Okay..." Holtzmann nodded. She supposed that could be spun into more of a compliment than an insult. She could accept that.

"I really do mean all that." Kevin continued. "You're a really strong, brave person. No matter what... And whatever happened to you tonight... I still think that you're strong and brave. I won't judge you if you let me help you. Sometimes asking for help is hard, but I think you're a strong enough person that you could handle it."

Holtzmann offered a dry laugh. Who knew Kevin had the qualities of a motivational speaker?

"Do you want me to look up a video about fixing your arm? If you don't want to talk about whatever happened, that's okay for now... We can do one thing at a time. Fix one problem for now. Just one. Your arm is hurt, so we'll fix it. That'll be a start." Kevin suggested. "I'm actually really good at stuff like this. Broke my finger once and didn't go to the hospital. Check it out." He held his hand out, flexing his fingers.

"Which one?" Holtzmann wondered, taking his hand in hers and turning it over. "They all look fine."

"Exactly." He smirked. "So you know I'll be able to figure out how to fix your arm too. Like it never happened."

She stared up at his eyes. Maybe she could just let him try... She could always change her mind if it didn't feel like he was doing it right. "Okay." She finally agreed. "But you have to stop if I say so... Right away."

"Of course." He nodded, pulling out his phone and opening up youtube.

Holtzmann shifted from one foot to the other as she waited on Kevin to find a video that would help him. She looked around the room. It was still mostly dark in the firehouse. Only the bathroom light was on. And she had been the one to turn it on.

"Kevin, why were you sitting in here in the dark?" Holtzmann frowned.

Kevin shrugged as he scrolled through his phone. "I'm never the person to turn on the lights in the morning. Don't know where the switch is."

Holtzmann felt her eyebrows raise. "Did you look for it?" It was a light switch... in the same places every other light switch was in every other building in the world - near the door of whichever room it was in.

"Nah." Kevin shook his head. "Figured I'd just wait for you guys."

Holtzmann exhaled and walked across the room, flipping on the light so that they weren't in the dark anymore and then heading over to her work bench, carefully climbing up onto it without using her injured arm. She sat with her legs hanging over the edge as she watched Kevin looking down at his phone screen.

As she stared at him from across the room, she frowned when he began laughing at whatever was on the screen. What could possibly be funny about videos of people fixing dislocated shoulder bones?

"Jillian, look at this." He laughed, walking over and turning the phone so she could see it.

She smiled when she saw what he had been watching. Somehow within the three seconds between suggesting looking up a video of how to fix her arm and opening up youtube on his phone, he'd gotten distracted by a video of dogs trying and failing to catch things, often falling backwards or making funny faces as they snapped their jaws at balls and frisbees and missed.

She looked up from the video and stared at Kevin's face as he chuckled and shook his head. His reaction to the video was more amusing to her than the video itself was. He was so endearingly childlike. While some people got quickly frustrated with him, Holtzmann couldn't say she really disliked his weird quirks. She also honestly kind of appreciated the fact that he was unintentionally putting off something she was dreading right now. Maybe getting distracted from the task at hand wasn't such a bad deal.

"Mike Hat does stuff like this." He nodded toward the phone. "I throw balls to him and he misses. Like every time. I've got a video. I'll show you." He closed out of youtube and pulled up a video of a dog sleeping on the floor, followed by a tennis ball flying toward it, bouncing off of its leg and rolling across the floor while the dog looked annoyed down at its leg and Kevin's laugh sounded in the background.

Holtzmann smirked as she looked up at him. He was chuckling and shaking his head. "He's hilarious." Kevin noted. He closed the video and looked down at her. "What were we about to do?" He wondered with a frown.

Holtz opened her mouth to speak, but didn't say anything. She was seriously contemplating just dropping the whole thing. Maybe Kevin would completely forget all of this if she just never mentioned it again. Maybe she should just suggest that they look up more dog videos. Get him good and distracted and spend the rest of the night doing that.

"Oh!" He frowned. "Your arm... Sorry..." He opened youtube again and typed something into the search bar.

"That's okay." Holtzmann breathed. The one time it would have been really nice for him to continue being spaced out and he figured out what was going on immediately.

Kevin paced around while he tried a few videos and while Holtzmann remained still and silent on her desk. The longer she sat there, watching him watching videos, the more she felt like she was making a mistake trusting him with this. It was Kevin... The man who wore glasses without lenses because the lenses got dirty and he didn't know the glasses were redundant without them. The man who didn't know eleven o'clock in the morning existed... And she was going to let him handle a very painful, somewhat serious injury? Holtzmann wasn't stupid... Why was she going about this so foolishly?

"Alright." He said after a few minutes, sticking his phone in his pocket and cracking his knuckles. "I think I've got it." He started toward the desk.

Holtzmann frowned and unintentionally shrunk down slightly as he approached.

"Don't worry. It looks easy." He told her. "Lie back on the table." He instructed, pushing some scraps of inventions Holtzmann had been working on to the side to make room.

Holtzmann laid down on the work bench as she felt her heart pounding in her chest. This wasn't a good idea. Kevin wasn't medically trained - not even close... She stared up with wide eyes as Kevin stood over her, looking down with a forced, yet warm smile. She must have looked terrified, because he looked like he felt pretty bad for her, and immediately began trying to offer comforting words.

"I'll do everything slow... and if it hurts too much, just tell me and I'll stop." Kevin told her. "I'll be really careful... and I'd never hurt you on purpose, so just tell me if you want me to stop, and I certainly will. I mean, it's probably gonna hurt a little, but you know... just tell me to stop if you want. I'll stop the second you say."

Holtzmann nodded and bit her lower lip.

"Can I move your shirt off your shoulder a little bit?" He asked.

Holtzmann swallowed and nodded as he reached up and carefully slid her sleeve down between her shoulder and her elbow.

"Yeah. That's definitely dislocated." He frowned. "Alright. Just lie still. Try to stay calm."

Holtzmann closed her eyes as she felt Kevin bend her arm at the elbow. She flinched slightly as just him moving her arm that much made her shoulder throb. He hadn't done anything wrong just yet. It would have hurt if a doctor was handling it too.

"You okay?" Kevin asked.

She nodded and made a small noise that sounded kind of like a shaky 'mm hm.'

"Tell me if you want me to stop." He reminded her as he re-positioned his hands carefully around her arm.

She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and whimpered softly as Kevin pulled at her arm. Then she felt a strange pressure and sharp pain in her shoulder, as he moved her arm slowly and very gently back up into the socket.

She opened her eyes and exhaled a shaking breath as she looked up at him. Her arm hurt significantly less now. Had he seriously just fixed it that quickly and easily? Just one attempt and it actually worked? She could hardly believe it.

"Better?" He asked, looking uncertain.

"Yeah..." She pulled herself back up, moving her arm slightly to test that it did indeed work. "Yeah, I think so..." She repeated, honestly shocked to be able to give an affirmative answer. "Thanks, Kevin." She smiled.

"I'm gonna make you a sling." Kevin told her. "And do you want a spare t-shirt? Yours has all its buttons gone..." He noted, nodding down toward her torn-open shirt.

Holtzmann looked down at her chest. Her shirt and vest were each missing enough buttons that coming even close to properly covering herself up with them just wasn't going to happen. She felt her lips forming into a pout and her brows furrowing as she stared down. This whole thing was just such a mess. How was she ever going to feel safe again? The men who attacked her were still out there... and they probably wouldn't even get in that much trouble even if she went to the police and they arrested them right away. They hadn't tried to kill her... What kind of sentence would they even receive? A couple nights in jail? Then they'd come out even more angry at her.

She felt her chest growing tight again as she remembered Nick's hands on her, grabbing, squeezing, pushing, hitting... Holding her down as he made sick, terrifying threats and put his hands on her where they most certainly weren't invited. It was painful and humiliating... She had never been so scared in her entire life... And his friend Steve - she supposed he was slightly less horrible - content to hit her, threaten and taunt her, but drawing a line sooner than Nick, fortunately. Even though he hurt and threatened her too, he was the closest thing to an ally she had at the time. He was the only reason she was here now and not still lying in the cold, hard street while Nick hurt her. If Steve hadn't made him stop, Nick would have kept going. She didn't know if he would have been done by now or not... but she was very glad to be here with Kevin instead of there with Nick.

A shiver ran through her as she remembered the look in Nick's eyes as Steve tried to convince him not to do what he was about to do to her. All it would have taken for this whole situation to have ended much worse would have been for Steve to not have been there, or for him to have been more like Nick. Nick was definitely not going to show her any mercy. He wouldn't have without Steve's insistence.

Holtzmann felt her eyes stinging with tears again. Nick had made her feel so defenseless. The memory of his touch on her chest, at her throat... trying to tug down her pants... It made her feel nauseous. She put her fingertips up to her throat. He had squeezed her neck pretty hard. She wondered if she'd have bruises there too. What were Abby, Erin, and Patty going to think?

She'd have to wear a scarf... The one she had on before was still on the ground in the alley. She had forgotten to pick it up.

"Here." Kevin's voice brought her out of her thoughts as he nudged her arm with his hand.

Holtzmann blinked and looked down. He had a white t-shirt in his hand. "Oh..." She mumbled softly. He had asked her if she wanted a spare shirt. She forgot to answer. "Thanks..."

"Sure." He handed her the shirt and reached his hands up toward his ears, covering them with his fingers and the other t-shirt he held in his hand. "I won't look." He promised.

She stared at him and he stared back. It really didn't matter if he looked - since her shirt and vest were already torn open and he could see everything already. She really didn't care if he watched her change, but maybe he cared?

"You're still looking... but okay..." She reached toward her sleeve and started to shrug out of it.

"Oh..." Kevin appeared nervous as he looked around himself as though unsure what he could possibly do.

"You could close your eyes." Holtzmann suggested. "Or turn around."

"Right." He laughed, turning around and fiddling with the identical shirt in his hands. "Internet says you can make a sling out of a t-shirt if you don't have access to a real one. I'm gonna give it a go."

Holtzmann cautiously shrugged out of her shirt and vest, careful to avoid using her injured arm much. It was in significantly less pain now, but she knew it was common practice not to use a recently dislocated arm more than necessary.

She pulled Kevin's shirt down over her head, letting it fall loosely around her chest. She felt much safer just wearing something that wasn't torn down the middle. Something soft and clean. Something Nick and Steve hadn't touched.

"You done?" Kevin started to turn slowly and cautiously, smiling slightly when he saw she had finished getting dressed. He brought the makeshift sling over, draping it carefully around her neck and gently helping her settle her arm into it before tightening it so that it fit as it should.

"Why do you have so many white t-shirts lying around?" Holtzmann wondered with a frown.

Kevin shrugged. "Just in case. I look pretty good in a white t-shirt, but I spill barbecue sauce and tacos on them a lot. Good to have some extras."

Holtzmann stared up at him with a slight frown. The man was so innocent in his own way. So childish in certain regards, but clearly a genuinely caring, decent person. Holtzmann knew she would never be able to leave this firehouse again and feel safe doing it if she didn't get the experience she'd suffered through out of her head and into listening ears. Kevin was probably the only one in the group who wouldn't insist that she go to the police and hospital too. She had a good chance at convincing him to go along with whatever she decided. She didn't have that same chance with the others. All three of them would insist that she go to the police and the hospital. They would have never settled on a youtube tutorial to fix her arm.

"Kevin..." Holtzmann exhaled, not sure if she really should continue or not.

"Yeah?" He raised his eyebrows.

Swallowing, Holtzmann looked down at Kevin's shoes. She couldn't make eye-contact with him when she said this. "You can't tell anyone any of this. You have to promise this will stay between us. Okay?" She glanced up at him long enough to see him nod.

"Yeah. Okay." He agreed. "My lips are sealed." He promised, covering his eyes with his hands.

She shook her head slightly, closed her eyes, and exhaled. "I'd like for you to accompany me home if you would, and maybe pick me up tomorrow... But maybe I don't want to go home... I might stay here. It's got good locks... But then, people know this is the Ghostbusters' headquarters. Anyone looking for me would know to look here..."

"Um... Okay..." Kevin sounded confused. "So... What exactly did you want me to do? Take you home, or stay with you here?"

"I don't know..." Holtzmann sighed, opening her eyes and frowning up at the receptionist. "Listen... There's two guys who might come looking for me, and I don't want them to find me, or at least not while I'm alone... so I don't want to be alone if it's not someplace safe."

"Who are they?" Kevin frowned. "Why are they looking for you?"

Holtzmann shrugged and closed her eyes again. "Nick and Steve... I don't know their last names. I don't know who they are." She shook her head, opening her eyes and looking down at Kevin's shoes again before continuing.

"They cornered me in an alley. I was out dumpster-diving, and they just showed up and started talking to me, kind of acting like they weren't gonna let me leave. I tried to leave anyway, but they grabbed me, and one of them recognized me, but they're not fans of ours. They pushed me around and hit me... One of them choked me." She ran her fingertips over her throat.

Kevin furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side, reaching a hand out toward her chin and tilting her face up slightly so he could see her neck. "I'm sorry, Jillian." He frowned. "That's really cruel... They just beat you up for no reason?"

"Yeah... I guess. They just wanted to be mean. They think The Ghostbusters are frauds and they took it out on me..." She hesitated, closing her eyes and breathing in a steadying breath. "I guess they got frustrated because they don't understand what happened with the ghosts and everything. Turns out ignorance is frustrating to the ignorant too - not just to everyone else." She let out a breathless laugh.

Kevin nodded slightly. "Well... I wouldn't know..." He spoke softly.

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes. He looked so serious. She couldn't help but to smile slightly, but she couldn't rid her eyes of the tears collecting in them. She was so tempted to turn this conversation around - make it into a joke and laugh it off. Being serious was difficult and stressful. Kevin didn't seem to think this was funny in any way - which was good - because it wasn't funny... but a large part of her wished he didn't look so concerned right now. Maybe in a way she had hoped he wouldn't understand the gravity of this situation - that she could vent - he'd shrug it off, and they could move on to talking about something else.

"Anyway..." Holtzmann breathed in and out a slow, deep breath. "I got away..." She shrugged. "The whole thing was just kinda..." She wanted to say it was dumb, or not a big deal... She wanted to lie and say she wasn't completely terrified right now. She wanted to force a laugh and make fun of how Nick seemed kind of dumb and had an ugly haircut. She wanted to pretend like she was more upset about not getting anything from the dumpster than about anything else... She couldn't understand why it was so hard right now to joke about this. Joking about things was one of her greatest defense mechanisms... But she couldn't bring herself to do it now.

"How did your arm get dislocated?" Kevin spoke up. "And your clothes..." He trailed off.

Holtzmann stared hard at Kevin's shoes as she felt her heart fluttering nervously in her chest. How necessary was it that she tell him any more about what happened? Maybe what she already said was enough. He knew two violent men might find and hurt her. That was the gist of it.

"Jillian..." Kevin put his hand lightly on her shoulder. "What did they do? Your clothing was half-torn off of you... You know you can tell me anything. I'm here for you."

Holtzmann felt a slight smile tug at the corner of her lips, but she still felt like she wanted to cry. "Thanks, Kevin..." She breathed.

"So what happened?" Kevin asked again.

She looked up at him, biting her lower lip as she absent-mindedly bunched up the bottom of the t-shirt he'd lent to her in her hand. "They were getting pretty rough, so I fought back, and maybe I fought too hard. I hit the one named Nick in the nose and it was bleeding... He was so mad... And I kicked him, and he was more mad... I kept screaming and fighting and Steve pushed me against the wall really hard. He said he hadn't wanted to hurt me... Maybe I fought too hard. Maybe they wouldn't have been so rough if I hadn't fought back... They weren't doing anything that bad at first. Just rude and kind of degrading... It wasn't fun, but it wasn't the worst thing... I could have just stayed calm and not fought. I just didn't know what to do. I was really scared."

Her words spilled out faster than she could think about them. The decision to remain serious about this rather than to joke about it was made by her mouth before her brain could have any say in the matter.

"That's not your fault." Kevin frowned. "You know that, right?"

Holtzmann forced a smile and shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah. I mean, they didn't have to confront me at all. That's all on them... but maybe they wouldn't have hurt me so much-"

"No." Kevin shook his head as he interrupted. "You sound like you're blaming yourself, and that's not fair."

Holtzmann exhaled and closed her eyes. "I know... I just... It's not important." She finally shrugged and shook her head as her brain regained control over her mouth and urged it to slow down. She didn't need to spill every detail about this. Kevin was willing to listen and had a lot more input and questions than she'd been prepared for, but he didn't need to know everything. She could leave it here. He knew enough.

"Jillian, yes it is important... What did they do? How did your shirt get torn open? They hurt you, and I need to know how much." Kevin told her.

Holtzmann swallowed, looking down at Kevin's feet. Why did he need to know more details than what she'd already said? What difference did it make? They were gone anyway. It wasn't like he could do anything about it or change what had happened.

"What did they do?" He asked again, looking very serious.

Holtzmann forced a smile and shrugged. She felt tears stinging her eyes and her throat felt tight. She didn't know if she could keep herself from crying if she started talking, so she just didn't say anything for now.

"Did they rape you?" Kevin spoke very bluntly, staring down at her with a frown.

Her chest felt cold. That was such a harsh question, but clearly it was bothering him not knowing... When she ran into him, her clothing was half torn off of her. It did look like what he suspected was reality. She supposed the truth was less horrible than what he was imagining. Holtzmann looked away, her eyes filling with tears again as she shook her head. The truth wasn't as terrible as what he was assuming... but it was still awful. Traumatizing and awful. She didn't want to talk about this... but if she didn't, Kevin's mind was going to assume the worst.

"Jillian... Did they?" Kevin asked again. He looked so anxious. She had to answer him.

"No." She whispered. "He tried to..." Her throat felt tight as she sniffed and inhaled a shaking breath.

"Good..." Kevin exhaled. "I mean, not good that he tried to... uh... Just, it's good that he tried and failed, right?"

"Yeah." Holtzmann breathed, still staring down at the floor.

"But they did hurt you." Kevin noted. "That must have been really scary."

Holtzmann nodded.

"How did you get away?" Kevin's voice sounded like he was frowning, but she still couldn't bring herself to look back up at him.

"I think the one guy felt guilty. He said I looked scared and that the other guy was being cruel. He didn't want to hurt me anymore. He told his friend to stop. For a minute, he didn't listen." She choked out a small sob as she remembered. "He was holding me down. I couldn't move, and he wouldn't stop." He voice shook as she sniffed back tears between portions of her response. "He tore my shirt open and tried to take off my pants, and he was choking me... And he hit me when I tried to get away..." She felt herself rambling now as her voice shook with tears. "The other guy told him to stop, but he didn't want to. He was just gonna keep going. He didn't care."

She remained where she stood, looking down, but not flinching away as Kevin stepped forward, carefully putting his arms around her again. Now that it was all out in the open, and he was hugging her, everything Holtzmann had been holding back spilled over. She couldn't help but to start crying.

"You're okay now though, right?" Kevin tried to reassure her as he moved his hand carefully over her back. "They're not here. They're gone..."

Holtzmann shook her head but couldn't stop crying. Of course she realized the men who hurt her weren't here inside the firehouse. She knew for this moment, they weren't going to hurt her again, but what would prevent them from finding her later?

Though her sobs took away most of her breath, Holtzmann managed to go on, unable to stop the shaking, breathless words from spilling out between her sobs. "If I go to the police, they might not do anything... Then they're just gonna be mad, and they told me specifically not to go to the police... But if I don't go to the police, I'm gonna be scared to go outside alone..."

"I'll stay with you." Kevin offered, hugging her in warm, gentle arms. "Until we've got it all sorted out, I'll go wherever you go."

"Forever though, Kevin? Because I don't know what to do..." Holtzmann whimpered.

Kevin rested his chin on top of Holtzmann's head and rubbed his hand carefully up and down her arm. "I'll stick by your side as long as it takes, Jillian. It's no problem. Maybe we should go to the police. Together. Then I'll stay with you until those guys are arrested."

"I don't know..." Holtzmann's voice shook.

"I'll kick their asses if they come anywhere near you." Kevin reassured her. "You know I totally could."

Holtzmann let out a small laugh. It was indeed true. Kevin was pretty muscular. She was fairly sure he could beat up pretty much anyone if he wanted to.

"So do you want to go the police? I can come with you." He offered. "We can go right now."

Holtzmann hesitated, closing her eyes and intaking a few steadying breaths as she remained leaning into Kevin's chest. "Maybe in the morning?" She asked.

"Sure." Kevin sounded like he was smiling, but Holtzmann didn't look up to confirm. "You can sleep on it."

Holtz nodded slightly. She wasn't sure she was actually going to go to the police at all. If things didn't work out, and the men got in enough trouble to be mad, but not enough trouble to be locked up and thus no longer a threat, Kevin wasn't going to want to follow Holtzmann around playing bodyguard forever.

"So... are we staying here tonight?" Kevin asked. "Or I could take you home. I'll stay with you there too if you'd like."

"Can we just stay here for now?" Holtzmann requested in a small voice. The thought of setting foot outside right now made her entirely anxious. "There's a couch... I can sleep on the floor."

"We can share the couch. I slept until like six pm anyway, so I can just keep watch around the place while you sleep." Kevin shrugged.

Holtzmann smiled and let out a small laugh. Her own sleeping pattern was pretty irregular too. She did feel pretty tired now though, probably thanks to her adrenaline wearing off fast.

"Okay. We'll do that." Holtzmann agreed with a small nod.

"We're gonna get this all figured out, Jillian." Kevin assured her as he hugged her close. He was surprisingly comforting, considering he never seemed able to comprehend anything that mattered.

"Thanks, Kevin." Holtzmann whispered as she hugged her uninjured arm around Kevin and laid her head against his chest. Maybe things really would be okay.

xxxxxx


	5. Chapter 5

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 5

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On the second floor of the firehouse there was a couch - put there because the Ghostbusters' engineer often got too involved in her work to remember to go home between and required naps more than full nights of sleep. Although Kevin had on occasion walked up here to find the woman asleep on the floor, or with her head down on her workbench, the couch was here for that purpose - for her to take a break when she needed it - if she remembered to walk across the room before succumbing to exhaustion wherever she sat or stood. He'd seriously seen the young woman with her head down on the desk, sound asleep while still standing up. Sometimes she was even still gripping a tool of some sort, as though she had fallen asleep in the middle of tightening a screw or welding something in place.

But now, she was using the couch for its intended purpose. She was finally sleeping, lying down on a soft surface like a normal human being. Kevin was a little tired too, but had chosen to stay up. He was honestly worried about his colleague. She looked pretty beaten up, and he was scared she wasn't going to want to go to the cops when she woke up. Jillian was kind of weird about police and doctors - which were the worst things to be weird about after two random guys attack you in the street and threaten to do it again.

Kevin frowned as he watched her sleep. She had taken him up on his offer to use his thigh as a pillow and appeared to have been chewing on her thumb nail as she fell asleep. He could see bruises forming on her cheek, jaw, and neck. He carefully reached his fingertips down and brushed some of her curls to the side to see the bruises on her neck better. They were very clearly finger-shaped. One of the men had grabbed her by the throat hard enough to leave marks. She had similarly shaped bruises on her arm and wrist. Probably her other arm too, but it was currently covered by Kevin's make-shift sling.

It made his heart hurt to think about anyone treating her that way. Kevin considered himself to be an important part of the Ghostbusters Team. These ladies were his co-workers, his friends... and even in a way his family. He was Charlie and they were his angels. They were like sisters to him, and it really made him mad that anyone could possibly feel like they were entitled to hurt them. Kevin wanted to personally find these men and kick their asses for this.

Her breaths were low and even as she continued sleeping against his leg. She seemed so peaceful and calm now compared to the nervous, panicked state he'd found her in. He had never seen her so shaken before. The woman battled actual ghosts, but she never seemed scared. Not until tonight.

He frowned as he observed her, looking so tiny wearing his spare shirt. She was barely over five feet tall. Kevin always felt like a giant next to her. He brushed his fingertips lightly over her wrist. Finger-shaped bruises circled all the way around it, making it look even smaller. He ran his fingertips up over her palm and toward her thin little fingers curled into a loose fist near her face. These were the hands she had to defend herself with. Small, delicate hands. She had probably grabbed desperately toward the larger hands of her attackers, trying to fend them off while utterly outmatched. It just wasn't fair.

Jillian was so little, and was without a doubt more brains than brawn. She was like Kevin's polar opposite in that regard. Beating her up would have been easy - which was precisely why this was so wrong. Kevin knew as well as anyone that hurting someone when it was easy to do so was not allowed. It just wasn't fair. That was a basic rule of human decency - to be kind and gentle to those smaller and weaker than yourself. He couldn't understand why anyone would feel pleasure picking on someone else like that.

When he had first run into her here tonight, he didn't know what to think. Jillian wasn't the type of person to get into this sort of trouble. Not because she was particularly careful... Maybe just because she was lucky up until now. When he asked her what had happened, a large part of him expected that she'd tell him some hilarious story - that she fell down an escalator because she was trying to experiment on it while it was running, or that she somehow got up on top of a subway car and rode it around the city until she fell off. He could tell she was hurt, but figured just physically, that she would think the whole thing was funnier than it was painful. As soon as he got a sense that whatever had happened bothered her more than a scraped knee, he started getting worried.

Jillian wasn't the type of person to get her feelings hurt over injuries. Not even big ones. As long as it was an accident - as long as it wasn't a personal attack - she tried to shrug things off and laugh about it even when she probably shouldn't. He had once seen her fall down an entire flight of stairs and get up and laugh at the bottom. The fact that she was clearly upset over her injuries tonight was proof enough that it was something serious. And when she wouldn't tell him what happened, that was even more proof. Usually she'd just blurt out the truth, laugh about it, and maybe make a joke about herself being clumsy or not paying attention.

Her reaction tonight was entirely unlike her. These men did more than hurt her physically. They had broken her little heart. She didn't expect someone to do something like this and she was emotionally devastated by it. He could tell. He looked back down at her, silently watching as she breathed in and out, peaceful, even breaths. At least she was okay now. At least they hadn't raped her or killed her... Or stabbed her or broken bones. It could have been worse.

Kevin wasn't really sure if that actually made him feel better though - knowing that these men had her cornered and could have done whatever they wanted. It could have been worse - and that was terrifying. She said the only reason she got away was because one of them felt bad and made the other stop. What if he hadn't? What if he had joined in instead? They could have taken turns sexually assaulting her. They could have killed her after. If they successfully hurt her as much as they had, they were clearly capable... and barely had a conscience.

He frowned as he noticed a tiny twig or leaf stem or something stuck in Jillian's hair. Sticking his lower lip out in a pout, he carefully pulled it out and tossed it to the floor as he tried to keep his imagination from guessing what the whole ordeal had looked like. He could see in his mind images of two huge, evil-looking men cornering his friend. He could guess that she would have probably tried to laugh it off at first. She never seemed to take things too seriously and making jokes even appeared to be a defense mechanism for her. He was sure she would have felt uneasy right away, but would have tried to make the situation funny anyway.

At what point had she stopped joking? He wondered what all the men said or did before she got truly scared. What was the breaking point? The point at which she knew they weren't playing and that she was in real danger... Then what had she done? Did she call for help? Try to fight back? Beg them to stop?

He felt his throat growing tight as he imagined what it all would have looked like... She said they had pushed her around at first - just hurting her for fun... It maybe wasn't sexually motivated at first... or maybe it was and they just didn't act on it at first. She must have been terrified even then - being so small, having two men shoving her and hurting her for no reason. And that wasn't even the worst of it. It was impossible for him to not think about everything she had described. One of the men holding her down and pulling at her clothes while she struggled and cried. He knew she had been crying because he saw tear streaks on her face when he found her here. Had she cried only after they let her go? Or was she crying while they hurt her? Outnumbered, outmatched, all alone, at their mercy.

Leaning down slightly, he looked at her face, at her closed eyes and the slight pout on her lips. She was so brave and fearless... it would have had to have taken a lot to scare her this much... but he didn't blame her. He really couldn't understand exactly how she felt. He had always been physically strong and imposing to many. Most people didn't dare threaten him or attempt to hurt him, and certainly no one had ever tried to hold him down and force themselves on him. He couldn't possibly understand how terrifying that must have been for her - to be so tiny and have two huge men hurting her while she couldn't really fight back in any significant way.

Kevin felt himself jump slightly as he heard an annoying buzzing sound. He noticed Jillian flinch too, but she remained sleeping as the sound stopped.

Kevin looked around the room with a frown. Maybe it was one of the woman's many inventions... Or a large bee.

He flinched as the sound rang out again. This time, it woke up Jillian too. She sat up and cowered down slightly as the noise continued.

"What is that?" Kevin frowned, covering his eyes to drown out the sound. "It's so annoying."

"It's the door buzzer." Jillian breathed, sounding rather panicked.

"Oh." Kevin uncovered his eyes and looked down at her. "Well, I'll go see who it is." He started to stand.

"Kevin, no!" Jillian reached out and grabbed his arm. "It's the middle of the night. Who could possibly want to ring our doorbell right now?"

"Well... People get haunted by ghosts at night. Maybe someone's desperate." Kevin shrugged. "If you're scared it's the guys who attacked you, don't be. I'll answer it. If it's them, I'll take care of it." He frowned. He almost wanted it to be them so he could beat the shit out of them himself.

Jillian stared up at him with wide eyes and silently shook her head.

"Don't worry." He offered her a comforting smile as he put his hand lightly on her shoulder. "I won't let anybody in... You can even stay up here if you want. I'll talk to whoever it is. Beat 'em up if I need to. They won't even know you're here."

"Kevin..." Jillian exhaled and her shoulders slumped. "There's two of them." She whispered. "And they're big."

"I'll bet I'm bigger." Kevin frowned. Why didn't she have faith that he could take care of this for her? He was strong...

Jillian looked him up and down. "Maybe... But there are two of them." She looked down at the floor. "They could really hurt you, Kevin. They're strong - and really violent... you'd be outnumbered."

"Jillian." Kevin put his fingers on her chin and tilted her face upward so that he could see her large, sad-looking eyes. "Guys like that - guys who would see you all alone in the dark and decide hurting you would be fun for them - they're cowards. They won't mess with someone like me. Anyone who would take advantage of someone being small and defenseless - anyone who would gang up on you and beat you up just because they can - those type of people aren't brave. They aren't the kind who would start anything with someone who was an even match for them."

"That's why they'd take advantage that there's two of them and one of you, Kevin." Jillian frowned. "That's exactly what they did with me... If they hadn't been together, I could have probably gotten away."

"Just stay up here. I promise it'll be fine. It's probably not them anyway." Kevin smiled and squeezed her arm reassuringly.

Jillian exhaled, but didn't move to follow him as he made his way downstairs.

The door's buzzer was still going off every thirty seconds or so. Whoever was down there ringing it really wanted a response.

"I'm coming!" Kevin called out, honestly kind of annoyed that whoever was on the other side of the door was ringing the bell so much. It wasn't even close to morning yet. Any normal person would have taken the lack of response in the first several minutes after ringing the buzzer as a hint to leave.

With a steadying breath, Kevin unlocked the door and opened it, frowning as he came face to face with a man in a police uniform. The guy was a few inches shorter than Kevin and looked a little less in-shape. Kevin wondered if this could be one of the two men who hurt his friend. There was only one guy here... And he was a police officer - a detail which should have stood out if he was one of the men Jillian told him about. He supposed Jillian hadn't told him what the men who had attacked her were wearing... She never said they weren't cops, but surely she would have mentioned it if they were...

The officer was frowning too as he stared up at Kevin, leaning slightly to the side in an effort to see around the taller man. "Oh..." He furrowed his brow, looking back up at Kevin as though surprised that it was he who had answered the door. "Uh... Hi. I'm Officer Worthey. I'm looking for-"

"What's your first name?" Kevin interrupted. Jillian hadn't described the men, but she did know their names. Steve and Nick.

"Daniel?" The cop sounded confused.

"Okay." Kevin nodded. That sounded good to him.

Daniel blinked and shook his head slightly before continuing. "Is, um... Is Ms. Jillian Holtzmann here?" He asked with a rather nervous expression on his face.

Kevin hesitated. Was he supposed to lie? Jillian didn't want to talk to the cops yet... Would she be mad if Kevin told this guy the truth? If he didn't tell the truth, would he and Jillian be in trouble for lying to and hiding from the police?

"You're the receptionist, right?" The officer went on, his eyebrows raising in curiosity.

"Yeah..." Kevin frowned.

"Are you the only one here?" The man asked.

Kevin narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

The cop exhaled. "I ran into Ms. Holtzmann a couple hours ago. She wouldn't really talk to me, but she didn't look well, and was acting strange. I tried talking to her, but she wouldn't really answer my questions. Then she ran off... I wanted to respect that she wasn't interested in my help, but at the same time, I could tell something was wrong. I thought I should follow up... I know this is the Ghostbusters headquarters and I saw the light was on upstairs..."

Kevin nodded. That was all true. Jillian did look beat up, this was the Ghostbusters headquarters, and the light upstairs was indeed on.

"And..." The cop went on, furrowing his brow as Kevin remained silently staring. "Well... she just looked like someone had beaten her up or something. Her clothes were torn, she had been crying... She seemed really apprehensive."

"Um..." Kevin swallowed nervously. He knew Jillian didn't want to talk to the cops, but she did say she'd think about it... And if Kevin lied to this man and then Jillian later decided to talk, would he be considered an accomplice or something? For withholding information?

"Is she here?" The cop asked again.

Kevin stared back, hesitating for a moment. "I could go check..." He offered, not wanting to give a yes or no answer just yet.

"You don't know?" The cop frowned.

"I can check." Kevin said again, raising his hands up defensively in front of him. "Stay here."

He offered a quick smile before turning around and making his way upstairs. He'd just ask Jillian what she wanted him to say. Maybe he could convince her to talk to this guy and they could solve this whole thing right now.

Kevin walked up onto the second floor, looking around the space with furrowed brows. He frowned when he didn't see Jillian. The couch was empty. She wasn't at her work bench.

"Jillian?" Kevin whispered, looking around the space some more, walking over to her desk and peeking under it. She wasn't there. "Jillian? Are you in here?" He whispered again, heading toward the couch. It was close to the wall, but she could have probably squeezed herself behind it. He leaned over the piece of furniture and looked between it and the wall. Nothing.

"Is she here?" The cop's voice behind him made Kevin flinch.

He turned around and stared at the officer, unsure of what to say. He had counted on Jillian being up here. He thought she would have been available and would have given him the answer on this one.

"It's a yes or no question, Sir." The cop frowned. "Is Ms. Holtzmann here?"

Kevin shook his head and shrugged. "I guess not..." He finally answered, feeling entirely confused. He glanced around the room some more as he and the policeman stood there. Where was she?

The cop frowned. "Have you spoken with her tonight?"

Kevin shook his head no, feeling increasingly panicked as he was forced to either lie to the police or betray his friend's secrets.

"I'd really like to talk to her if you see her. This is serious." Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white card. "When you see her, please give her this. Tell her I just want to help. She's not in trouble."

"Okay." Kevin frowned, taking the card and staring down at it. Did Jillian think the cops were going to charge her with something? Was that part of why she wouldn't talk to them?

"I can't claim to know what happened... and maybe you don't either..." Daniel sighed. "If someone threatened her, she needs to talk to the police. It's our job to help with this kind of thing. We can't protect her from anyone if we don't know who we're looking for."

"I understand." Kevin nodded. "And I agree... If someone hurt her, she should talk to you." He couldn't force the woman to do so though... Especially not when she was hiding... or maybe she left entirely. He hoped not.

"Alright... Just remember to give that to her. Maybe you can convince her to come by the station. You're friends, right?" Daniel wondered.

"Yeah." Kevin shrugged. "I think so."

Daniel stared back, shaking his head slightly. People did that to Kevin a lot for some reason. He never really could figure out why.

"Well... Thanks anyway." Daniel exhaled and headed back toward the stairs.

Kevin followed him downstairs and toward the door. "I'll let her know you came by." Kevin spoke up. "I really will..." He promised.

"Okay. Thanks." Daniel forced a smile and exited through the door.

Kevin closed the door behind the other man, closed his eyes, and exhaled tiredly. He wished Jillian would just talk to the guy. The men who attacked her deserved to get in trouble for it. Jillian deserved to be able to exist in the world without fear that they'd return and hurt her again.

He made his way back upstairs.

"Jillian?" He called out again. "Are you hiding in here? He's gone..."

For a moment, the room was filled with silence, and Kevin had to wonder if maybe the woman really did somehow sneak out of the building. Maybe she really wasn't here...

But then one of the changing rooms' doors creaked slowly open and Jillian peaked out.

"He's gone." Kevin said again. "It was a cop. Daniel something or another. Not Steve. Not Nick. He said he saw you earlier and tried to talk to you?"

Jillian exhaled and bit her lip. "Yeah. He did... I walked past the police station to get here. He saw me and stopped me, wanting to talk about ghosts... He noticed I looked like hell... I panicked and left..." She laughed nervously.

"Well, he says you should talk to him... and he says you're not in trouble or anything." Kevin assured her.

"I know..." Jillian frowned. "It's just..." She hesitated.

"I think you should tell the cops. Otherwise those guys are gonna be out there, and you're always going to wonder if they might come back... If you talk to the cops, and they still get away with it somehow - well, first, they'd have to go through me to get to you... But also, they'll know you aren't afraid to go to the cops. Do you think they'd go after you again knowing you're willing to go to the police? Knowing the police are already onto them?" Kevin wondered.

Jillian shook her head. "He said he'd kill me next time. It's not something I really want to risk."

Kevin saw the color drain from Jillian's face as they heard the unmistakable sound of a door opening and closing downstairs.

"You didn't lock it?" Jillian shrunk down slightly as she stared up at Kevin with a pout.

"It's probably just the cop again." Kevin guessed. "You can hide again if you want... I'll go investigate."

Jillian seemed to be frozen where she stood. She didn't move toward the changing room again. She just stared toward the stairs as her breaths became a bit more quick.

"Jillian..." Kevin bent down slightly and looked into her eyes. "You can hide... You still don't have to talk to him. Not until you're ready." He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her gently back toward the open door of the changing room.

"The cop would have rang the buzzer. I don't think it's him..." She shook her head as she stared up at Kevin with huge eyes.

"I'll go find out." He pushed her backward the rest of the way into the changing room and carefully closed the door behind her.

xxxxxx


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. I've been doing my life and it's hard.
> 
> I've been working on my next story too, by the way - the one I've already mentioned. It's gotten longer. :D A lot longer. It's over 50,000 words now. It's gonna be fantastic.

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 6

xxxxxx

Kevin headed toward the stairs, but as soon as he got there, he noticed two figures making their way up. That couldn't be good... It wasn't the cop... And what other random two guys would just walk in here without ringing or knocking? It had to be the two men Jillian had told him about. A large part of him was completely pissed at them for coming here. A smaller part was kind of excited... Now he could beat them up.

He frowned and scowled down at them as they stopped in their tracks. They both looked somewhat surprised when they saw him. They probably thought Jillian was the only one here.

"Can I help you?" Kevin crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at them.

"Hi." One of the men laughed nervously. Kevin noticed he had bruises under his eyes near his nose. Jillian must have fought back pretty hard. Kevin kind of felt proud, but he didn't have time to dwell on it at the moment. "I thought this was the Ghostbusters' place... Who are you?" The guy went on.

"One of the Ghostbusters." Kevin frowned. "Who are you?"

"I thought the Ghostbusters were all women." The second man noted. "We wanted to talk with them about a ghost we saw... Are any of them here?"

"Nope. Just me." Kevin lied.

"And you're a Ghostbuster too?" The second man asked.

"Sure am." Kevin answered.

"Well... Let's talk to him then, Steve." The first guy grinned at his friend. That meant he was Nick.

"Maybe we should just let it go." Steve suggested in a low whisper, looking nervously up toward Kevin.

Kevin scowled back at them. He honestly didn't want them to get scared and leave. He wanted them to try something, so he could try something right back. So he forced a smile onto his face.

"Well, come on up. Tell me about this ghost." Kevin suggested, taking a step back so that the men could pass him on the stairs.

They took his bait and walked up the steps and onto the second floor.

"Have a seat." Kevin offered, gesturing toward the couch.

Steve looked nervously toward his friend as Nick shrugged and sat down.

"We were out walking tonight, and we saw the ghost in the dumpster down the street from here." Nick smirked.

"In the dumpster?" Kevin rose his eyebrows. That's where Jillian said she was when they found her. "What was it doing?"

Nick shrugged. "Digging around for junk, I guess. Hell, I don't know. I can't claim to understand why a ghost would be rifling through a dumpster like a bum."

"Well... Did you try to talk to this ghost?" Kevin asked.

Steve shook his head while his friend laughed again.

"Yeah, but it was kind of a bitch." He noted. "We were being perfectly nice and it freaked out like a fucking lunatic."

"Are you sure the ghost was a lunatic? Are you sure you didn't just piss it off by being gross perverts?" Kevin forced a tight-lipped smile as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Nick's smile fell as he stared up at Kevin.

"Come on, man... Let's just drop it." Steve suggested, putting his hand lightly on his friend's arm.

"No." Nick growled, standing up and moving his hand out in front of himself. Kevin grimaced when he saw the man held a gun. He hadn't counted on that.

"Okay..." Kevin breathed as he backed up a few steps and raised his hands in defense. He could still win this... He just needed to make sure he didn't get shot first. As long as this guy wasn't trigger-happy, Kevin could wait for the right moment and wrestle the gun away from him.

"We know she's here." Nick spoke, holding the gun firmly in his hand as he stared intently at Kevin. "We saw her come in. We also saw the cop come and go..."

Kevin swallowed. "Who do you mean? She-who?" He asked.

Nick raised his eyebrows and stared back as though Kevin's question had a very obvious answer - which it did... "The crazy girl I could have fucked, and didn't. The one I let go... The one who I fucking told not to talk to the cops, but the motherfucking cops were just here!" Nick was practically screaming now. "I let her go on the condition that she keep her fucking mouth shut."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kevin lied.

"We just watched the cop leave." Nick told him. "Don't fucking lie to me or I'll shoot you." He shook the gun for emphasis.

"You know you'll go to prison for that, right?" Kevin frowned.

"I don't fucking care." Nick growled.

"Jesus Christ, Nick..." Steve stared wide-eyed at his friend. "Are you fucking serious?"

"Shut up, Steve." Nick breathed through his teeth. "We fucking warned her not to talk to the cops."

"But now this guy's here... What are we gonna do? Just kill them both? How the hell are we gonna get away with that?" Steve frowned.

Nick shook his head. "We sure as hell won't get away with two witnesses talking to the cops."

"Well, witnesses to what though? Right now, we just beat her up a little... You're talking about actual murder at this point." Steve's voice shook slightly. "You're escalating this really far. I say we all just forget about this and go our separate ways. That sound good to you?" He nodded toward Kevin.

Kevin nodded. He wasn't really content to let it all go, but for now, since Nick held a gun on him, it would do.

"No. Not until our little friend comes out to chat. I know she's here..." Nick refused. "Honey, come out or we're gonna shoot your big dumbass friend here between the fucking eyes."

Kevin grimaced and breathed in a nervous breath. He really didn't want Jillian to come out from from her hiding spot. He highly doubted these guys were just going to chat and then let them both go unharmed.

"She's not here." Kevin said again, swallowing nervously as he glanced toward the door he knew she was behind. "And if she was, I don't think she should come out..." He added, trying to warn her while not being completely obvious. "But again... she's not here. It's just me."

Nick exhaled and shook his head. "If you're not out here by the time I count to three, he's fucking dead." He threatened. "One. Two..." He paused for a half-second.

Kevin felt his heart sink in his chest as the changing room door creaked open and Jillian stepped cautiously out into the room. He noticed she wasn't wearing the sling he'd made for her anymore. Both of her arms were down, with her hands behind her. Was she hiding something behind her back? Kevin wasn't sure.

"I didn't talk to the cops." She breathed. "They tried to talk to me. I didn't tell them anything. He saw me on the way over here. I didn't tell him what happened... That's why he came here later - because he wanted answers as to why I looked all beat up. Kevin talked to him. He never knew I was here."

"Okay... Good..." Steve looked over at his friend. "Let's go, Nick. We'll all just forget all of this."

Nick shook his head and aimed his gun higher, up away from Kevin's chest and toward his head. "Come over here, Hon." He nodded toward Jillian.

Kevin noticed Jillian swallow nervously as she stared from Kevin to Nick.

"Come here." Nick said again.

Jillian's eyes looked wet as she bit her trembling lower lip. Kevin frowned as he tried to see what she might be holding behind her. A weapon of some sort?

"Come here, Darling." Nick seemed to be trying at a more gentle tone. "I won't hurt you. I promise." He offered a little waving gesture with his free hand. "I don't want to have to shoot your friend, Babe, so if you could come over here..."

Finally, Jillian took a timid step forward. She made her way over toward the two men, stepping between Nick and Kevin so that Kevin could see what she held behind her back. It looked like a crow bar or pipe of some kind. It had been Jillian's dressing room that she was hiding in, so that made sense. She always had weird odds and ends lying around the spaces that she occupied.

"Good girl." Nick smiled and held his hand out toward her. "That wasn't so hard, hm?"

Kevin winced as Jillian let out a growling sound and lunged toward the man, bringing her makeshift weapon into view and swinging it hard toward his hands, obviously focusing first on disarming him.

Nick let out a pained howl as the gun fell from his hand and slid across the floor. Kevin immediately rushed toward it, but it seemed Steve had the same idea. They reached the weapon at about the same time, and Steve just barely managed to grab it first.

"Get back!" Steve demanded in a breathless voice as he aimed the gun at Kevin.

Kevin stared at him. He looked a lot more scared than his friend had, but he still had a gun, and that meant Kevin needed to be a little scared too. A scared person with a gun was also often a lot more dangerous than a confident person with one. So Kevin raised his hands in defense and held his breath, hoping for the best and waiting for the right opportunity to act.

"You fucking bitch!" Nick's angry voice growled, drawing Kevin's attention back toward him and Jillian in time to see him hit her hard across the face.

Jillian whimpered and fell back, but maintained her hold on the metal object in her hand. As Nick closed in on her, she swung the pipe at him, hitting him in the chest with it once before he grabbed at it and wrestled it from her hands.

Kevin started to move toward her, but stopped when he felt the gun Steve still held being pressed up against his temple. "Don't fucking move." Steve ordered. He still sounded out of breath, but Kevin truly believed the man might shoot him out of desperation, even if he didn't really want to.

Kevin winced and clenched his hands into fists as he watched Nick slam Jillian's pipe down against her ribs. She let out a pained scream as she reached up defensively, trying to reclaim her weapon. Nick swung it down again, hitting Jillian's arm this time. She retracted her arm, whimpered, and curled herself into a ball as Nick raised the metal object back up, preparing to strike her again.

"Stop!" Kevin gasped. "Please stop..."

Nick hesitated and glanced toward him. Something angry and vengeful flashed through the man's eyes. "Am I being too harsh?" He laughed, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Yes!" Kevin breathed. "If you want to beat someone up, I'm right here. You're making yourselves look so weak picking on a girl..."

"Oh, are we?" Nick stared with a frown and sort of scowl.

"She's so much smaller than you." Kevin reminded the man. "It's not a fair fight..."

"You don't say... Maybe I shouldn't hit her again then..." Nick knelt down, still holding the pipe in his hand as he grabbed at Jillian's arm, prying it away from where she had been shielding her head and face with it and pinning it against the floor as he climbed down on top of her. He clearly had a plan on how best to hold her down, as he easily managed to pin down both of her legs by positioning his own on top of hers.

"Get off of me!" Jillian sobbed as Nick placed the pipe down over her throat. She grabbed at it, trying to push it away, but Nick held it down firmly with one hand as he moved his other hand down to her waist.

"You changed your shirt." He noticed as he ran his fingertips over her stomach. "We'll get straight to the good stuff this time." He added with a sinister chuckle, reaching down toward her pants, shoving his fingers down between the waistband and her skin and starting to tug down.

"Please don't!" Jillian begged, her voice strained as Nick pressed the pipe down over her throat.

"Nick, stop!" Kevin urged, feeling panic in his chest. He couldn't do much with Steve aiming a gun at him.

"Why? She's so little... Hitting her would be wrong... So we'll do this." He mocked.

Jillian choked out a panicked whimper as she used one hand to try to push the pipe off of her neck and the other to grasp frantically toward his other hand.

"Get off of her." Kevin growled, beginning to seriously contemplate risking being shot in order to stop the man himself.

"Aw, don't worry." Nick laughed as he yanked rather roughly at her pants. "I'll be gentle."

Kevin felt anger and fear bubbling up into him as he glanced toward Steve, who still held the gun firmly up against Kevin's head. "Don't let him do this." Kevin growled. Jillian had said before that one of the men had tried to rape her and the other felt bad and made him stop. Steve looked very obviously uncomfortable here. Maybe he could convince his friend to back off again. If he didn't, Kevin was going to have to risk getting shot to solve this himself. Standing here and watching this man sexually assault his friend wasn't an option. He didn't have a choice.

Steve looked conflicted as he glanced quickly toward his friend, who was still trying to wrestle Jillian's pants down her thighs with one hand while pressing the pipe threateningly and probably painfully down against her throat with his other hand.

"Stop..." Jillian rasped and squeezed her eyes shut, clearly having trouble breathing as she weakly grabbed at the pipe with both hands, trying to push it up off of her neck.

"Nick, stop." Steve finally spoke up. He still held his gun on Kevin, but was looking toward his friend. "You're hurting her, man. Let her go... We've been over this..."

"Why the fuck did you come with me here?" Nick growled as he rather violently yanked Jillian's pants down to her knees. She still had her underwear on, but clearly felt quite violated anyway as choked sobs came up from her throat and tears streamed down her cheeks.

"To make sure she's not talking to the cops..." Steve breathed. "And she didn't..."

Kevin felt his own breaths increasing in speed as his heart pounded in his chest. Jillian's heartbroken sobs filled his ears. If this didn't turn around quick, he was going to have to do something, even with Steve holding the gun on him. He knew the second he acted, things might turn even worse, so he really didn't want to try to get control over the gun until it was his last remaining option. If he tried for the gun and failed, Steve might shoot him... and he certainly wouldn't be able to help his friend if he was dead.

"It's not like she's gonna fucking tell us if she did." Nick laughed as he ran his hand up over Jillian's thigh. "You know, on certain girls, this would be a turn-off." He noted as he pinched the material of Jillian's boxer briefs between two of his fingers. "You get your panties from the same thrift shop as the rest of your clothes?" He laughed.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Jillian growled, trying to thrash her body under him. She looked so tiny crushed down against the floor with her attacker on top of her.

"Oh!" Nick laughed, moving his hand down toward the inside of Jillian's thigh and running it slowly up her leg. "Little Ghosty's got a mouth on her, Steve!" He laughed.

"Get off of me!" Jillian screamed as Nick inched his fingers further and further up between her legs. "Get your fucking hands off of me!" Jillian screamed as she abandoned trying to pry the pipe up off her neck and reached down toward Nick's fingers on her thigh instead. Kevin had never heard her sound so angry and scared all at once.

"Nick, you have to stop..." Kevin breathed. "We won't tell the cops if you just stop."

"You can't do this, Nick." Steve persisted, but still kept his gun on Kevin. "I thought we were just gonna scare her into not going to the cops."

"Well, it looks like this'll do the trick." Nick laughed.

"If you don't stop, we will go to the cops." Kevin threatened. "I'm only staying quiet if you leave, right now."

"Shut up!" Steve growled, shaking his gun for emphasis. "No one's going to the fucking cops either way. I'm not going to prison, Nick. You've got to let her go." He was clearly getting frantic.

Kevin snapped his mouth shut and stared nervously at Steve. He was gonna end up shooting that gun if he didn't calm down. He was too on-edge.

"Stop!" Jillian screamed again, sobs choking up her voice as she struggled uselessly against Nick. "I didn't go to the police! You told me not to and I didn't!" She sobbed.

"I just don't know if I believe that, Sweetheart." Nick laughed, leaning down closer to her as he pressed the pipe harder against her throat and rubbed his hand up the inside of her thigh.

Jillian made a strained, choked noise and squeezed her eyes shut.

"She can't breathe!" Kevin yelled, clenching his hands into fists. He was going to have to do something. It didn't matter that Steve had a gun pointed at him. He couldn't let the other man hurt Jillian like this.

"Nick. Get off of her. Now." Steve finally spoke up again, and to Kevin's surprise, the man moved his gun over to point at his friend. "Nick." He spoke in a louder voice, clearly wanting to draw the other man's attention toward the gun. When he successfully did that, he repeated himself. "Get off of her."

Kevin held his breath. In a way, he was free to go to Jillian's aid now that the gun wasn't pointed at him... but maybe at this point it would be smarter to wait. Maybe Steve was going to get Nick to stop... Steve was the one with the gun... He was the one in charge now, and if he wanted Nick to stop and was willing to use the gun as a threat to get what he wanted, maybe this could work out without Kevin risking himself or Jillian getting shot in the process.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nick stared back at his friend.

"No. I'm not." Steve answered.

"Steve, you better get that fucking gun off of me." Nick growled, seemingly gripping his hands harder on Jillian as he spoke, if her wince and squeezed-shut eyes were any indication.

"You've gotta stop, man." Steve's voice shook slightly, and he kept his gun aimed firmly in place toward the other man. Kevin still held his breath, completely unsure how this was going to end. Steve was clearly against what Nick was doing, but also seemed to not be the more dominant personality of the two. Kevin wouldn't be surprised if Steve backed down and let Nick do what he wanted, even if Steve was the one with the deadly weapon.

Nick glared at his friend. At the same time, he ran his hand up over Jillian's thigh and toward the waistband of her shorts, slowly sliding his fingers under the band and beginning to tug the garment down, all but ignoring Steve's threat.

Jillian let out another shaking sob as she flinched under him. "Don't!" She begged between sobs. Her voice still sounded strained.

"Nick, stop!" Steve growled. "I will shoot you. I can't let you do this."

Nick exhaled, but kept his fingers were they were, pulling lightly at Jillian's shorts. "Seriously, Steve?" His eyebrows were raised and he sounded like he legitimately couldn't believe his friend was asking him to stop.

"Yeah." Steve breathed. "Seriously... I told you this already." He shook his head. "It was funny at first. This isn't funny. It's sick. She didn't go to the cops... And if she did, we're fucked anyway... If she didn't, she sure as fuck will after this."

"Is that true, Baby? You gonna go to the cops?" Nick leaned down close to Jillian's ear.

She tried to shake her head, but could barely move. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and rasped quietly. "No."

"How about this..." Nick whispered near her ear. "You let me fuck you without holding the pipe over your neck, and don't go to the cops... And I'll be really slow and gentle."

Jillian shook her head again and whimpered.

"Or, I'll do it anyway, while choking you... and I'll be really fucking rough." Nick growled. "Then you can go the cops and tell 'em whatever you want." He laughed as he tugged the side of her underwear a few inches down her thigh.

"Nick!" Steve growled. "Fucking stop, or I'm gonna shoot you. You're done. This is over. Get up."

Nick stared back at his friend for a few long seconds. Kevin felt his heart fluttering in his chest as he watched between the two men. They looked like they wanted to attack each other. He wondered if they would... That could certainly solve a lot as far as Kevin and Jillian were concerned. They couldn't hurt anyone else if they were busy fighting with each other.

"Fine." Nick growled and looked back down at Jillian, moving his hand off her leg as she stared back up at him with tearful breaths shaking in her chest. He put his hand over her ribs as he stared down at her. Kevin couldn't see his face. He wasn't sure what the man was thinking.

"Nick..." Steve spoke up again.

"I heard you." Nick spoke, moving his hand lightly over the t-shirt Kevin had given to Jillian.

"Then get up." Steve frowned. His gun was still pointed toward Nick.

"Alright, Steve. Calm down." Nick laughed, still looking at Jillian, who stared back with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry I hurt you, sweet little princess." he mocked, moving his fingers up over her chest, squeezing her breast for a second and then moving his hand up her throat and toward her cheek. He petted her face softly before putting his hand on her shoulder and using it to stand.

Jillian winced, as he'd just pressed down on the same shoulder that had been dislocated before.

"You fucking pussy." Nick growled as he turned toward Steve, suddenly swinging the pipe out toward his friend, violently slamming the hard object against Steve's head, and not stopping there. As his friend fell to the floor and a possibly accidental shot rang out through the room, Nick swung the pipe down again.

Kevin felt his eyes grow wide, but he didn't have time to worry about defending Steve. As happy and grateful as he was that Steve had shown a bit of mercy, Kevin knew he wasn't without fault here, and Kevin's priority was first Jillian, and then himself. So he went after the seemingly forgotten gun that had fallen from Steve's hand after the initial shot he'd fired.

As soon as he neared the gun, however, he seemed to have caught Nick's attention. He felt a very sharp pain against his arm as the man slammed the pipe down near his shoulder. Kevin continued going for the gun, but was forced to halt as the man struck him again, this time against his back.

Kevin grimaced as he turned toward the man, ready to wrestle the pipe away from him. He reached out toward the pipe as Nick raised it up over his head. Now both men held tightly onto it, and Kevin noticed this guy was unfortunately a fairly even match to him strength-wise.

He kept a hold of the pipe with one hand and balled his other into a fist, slamming it across the other man's jaw. Obviously Nick had similar ideas, as he quickly landed a punch against Kevin's ribs with one free hand while maintaining a strong grip on the pipe with his other hand.

Kevin felt a growl in his throat as he twisted his hand, trying to loosen the other man's grip on the weapon as he reached his arm up toward the guy's neck, attempting to put him into a choke-hold.

He couldn't quite manage to do so, but frowned when he noticed two smaller hands wrap around the guy's neck from behind. Kevin furrowed his brow as he looked around the man's shoulders, where Jillian stood, reaching her hands up and choking him.

Nick let out an angry snarling sound as he abandoned his fight for the pipe and spun around to face Jillian. He slapped her hard across the face so that she fell back against the floor. He then started closing in on her, but she kicked out, hitting him against the chest so that he fell back as well, at which point Kevin grabbed him by his arms and hauled him backward.

Kevin held him tight as he eyed the pipe lying on the ground nearby.

"Stop fighting." Kevin breathed as he tightened his grip, moving his arms so that he had them securely around the guy's neck. He tightened them as much as he felt he needed to, ready to tighten them more if he felt it was necessary.

"You guys are all fucking freaks." Nick growled, thrashing his body as he gripped at Kevin's arms.

"Yeah, well..." Kevin exhaled. "At least I'm not sexual predator who beats up girls."

"She fucking deserved it." Nick growled. "Let go of me."

"No." Kevin glared down at the top of the man's head as he squeezed his arms tighter around his neck. Nick hadn't let go when Jillian was tearfully begging him to stop groping her. Why should Kevin grant him any mercy here?

"What are you gonna do? Kill me?" Nick let out a half-choked laugh.

"No." Kevin answered. "I'm not going to kill you. But if Jillian wants to beat the shit out of you with that pipe, I'm not gonna say no." He looked toward Jillian with raised eyebrows and then nodded toward the pipe on the ground.

Jillian was still lying on the floor, but she glanced over toward the pipe.

"You fucking better not!" Nick growled, thrashing his body more until Kevin tightened his grip on the guy's neck, forcing him to either hold still or get choked to unconsciousness. He chose to hold still. "Honey... If you hit me with that..." Nick trailed off.

Jillian stared back at him, but pulled herself up to her feet, pouting as she staggered toward the pipe and picked it up. "Yeah?" She spoke in a soft voice. "If I hit you with this... Then what?"

Nick scowled over at her. "Then I'll do something pretty bad to you... Something painful."

"How are you gonna do that when you've got a pipe embedded in your face?" Holtzmann raised her head up high as she stuck her lower lip out in a pout and gripped the pipe in both hands.

"You're both gonna go to prison if you beat me with a pipe while he holds me down. You know that, right?" Nick breathed. He sounded kind of nervous. Maybe he believed Jillian really would do it. Kevin wasn't sure if he believed she would or not.

"Mm... I don't know." Jillian cocked her head to the side as she twisted the pipe in her hands. "You trespassed into the building where Kevin and I work... Attacked us... Looks like self defense to me..."

"Babe, if you hit me with that... You know I'm not goin' to prison forever. All I did was beat you up and try to fuck you... Didn't even actually get to. What do you think the sentence is for attempted rape and battery?" Nick's voice shook slightly, but he also had a certain tone of threat in his words. "It's not life. I'll get out... And when I do, I'll find you again. Next time without my dumbass buddy Steve. Next time it'll just be me and you... And lots of rope. We'll go someplace quiet and secluded. I'll tie you down to something..."

"Shut up." Jillian cut him off.

Nick laughed. "Why? You don't like hearing what I'm gonna do to you? You don't want to hear how I'm gonna rip your clothes off of you? Strip you naked and tie you down to a table with your little legs spread."

Kevin grimaced as he saw pure anger in Jillian's eyes. With a growl in her throat, she slammed the pipe down against Nick's thigh.

Nick screamed in pain and thrashed his body under Kevin's grip. Kevin squeezed his arms tighter and stared ahead at Jillian, who was breathing in and out shaking breaths as she stared down at the man Kevin held firmly in front of him.

"God damn it!" Nick screamed. "You crazy fucking bitch!"

Jillian shook her head slightly as she glared at the man. She raised the pipe back behind her like a baseball bat, ready to take another swing.

"Don't you dare hit me with that!" Nick growled. "I'm not kidding. Next time I get a chance... if you hit me again... I swear to god..."

"Go on." Jillian dared the man as she held the pipe up, ready to swing. "What are you gonna do next time you get a chance, Nick?"

Nick breathed in and out, seemingly smart enough to not answer that for the moment.

"That's what I thought." Jillian glared.

Nick reached his hands up toward Kevin's arms, trying to pry them away from his neck.

"Stop moving." Kevin warned, tightening his grip again.

Nick exhaled a frustrated growl. "You can't hide from me forever, Babe. And even if you do manage to stay hidden, I'm not gonna forget you... You won't forget me either, I'm sure."

"I don't think you're as unique as you think you are." Jillian noted. "There's so many more sexist, violent, stupid shitbags out in the world other than yourself."

"How many of 'em have managed to get their hand up under your little bra. How many of 'em have squeezed your tits in their hands or rubbed their fingers up your thigh, right up there between your legs, almost touching your-" He was cut off as Jillian slammed the pipe down against his ribs, then a second time against his thigh.

"You fucking cunt!" Nick growled, thrashing under Kevin's hands. "I'm gonna find you again, you god damned bitch. I'll fuck you until you bleed!"

Jillian frowned and slammed the pipe down very hard against his leg again. "You don't get to talk to me like that." She growled. "Say another word, and I'll do it again." She threatened.

Nick finally took a hint and shut up.

Kevin's ears perked up. Was that a siren he heard? Maybe someone heard the struggle - particularly the gunshot - and had called the police.

He looked in front of him where Jillian still stood, breathing in and out as she gripped the pipe threateningly in her hands. She looked more than ready to hit the man again. In a way, it was kind of scary - seeing how violent and vengeful she was... But he also recognized that she had earned that right.

Kevin gripped the man tighter as he heard footsteps downstairs.

"Police!" Someone below shouted. "Anybody upstairs needs to come down with their hands up."

"We can't do that!" Kevin shouted back. "I've got the guy who had the gun in a headlock up here. I can't let him go."

"Alright. We're coming up. Nobody make any sudden movements. If you can show your hands, do so." The cop's voice ordered. It sounded like the man from before, Daniel.

Kevin maneuvered himself and Nick so that he was facing toward the door as he watched three cops make their way into the room. Two of them took Nick away from him, cuffing the man's hands behind him.

"What happened here?" One of the cops holding onto Nick asked.

"They attacked me!" Nick blurted. "The guy was holding me down while that bitch hit me with a pipe! I've got bruises to prove it!"

Kevin shook his head. "They attacked Jillian earlier tonight. The other one is there." He nodded toward Steve, who was lying still on the floor. "They came back after you left." He looked toward Daniel. "They told Jillian not to go to the police, but they thought she had because they were watching the building and saw you come and go."

"Was anyone shot?" Daniel frowned.

Kevin shook his head. "No."

"Do either of you need an ambulance? I think we'll call one for this guy." He nodded toward Steve, who was still lying unconscious on the ground with blood dripping from a cut on his forehead.

Kevin looked behind him where Jillian stood silently staring toward the two cops who held onto Nick. She still gripped the pipe tightly in her hands. So tight in fact, that her knuckles were white.

"Jillian?" Kevin spoke, stepping toward her and putting his hand on her arm. "I think we should go to the hospital."

She shook her head, but didn't take her eyes off of Nick. "I don't want to." She spoke in a small voice.

"I'll go with you. It'll be fine." Kevin assured her.

"I don't want to. I'm not going in an ambulance." Jillian refused.

"I'll drive you then." Kevin offered.

Jillian glanced toward him, her eyes wide and still scared, almost as though she wasn't quite sure this whole thing was truly over.

"The cops are arresting them, Jillian." Kevin reminded her. "It's over. You're gonna be okay. We've just got to go to the hospital to make sure... Then you can go home."

She shook her head.

"I'll stay with you the whole time... He hit you with that pipe pretty hard... We've gotta make sure your ribs aren't broken." Kevin told her. "And I know I fixed your arm, but I really didn't know what I was doing... We should let a doctor double-check."

"Fine." Jillian finally agreed, but still seemed very nervous.

"Okay. Good..." Kevin forced a smile. "Can we meet you there?" He looked toward Daniel, who nodded in agreement. "Alright. Let's head out, Jillian." He gripped her arm near her elbow and reached down toward the pipe she still held in a death-grip. "Can we leave this, Jillian?" He asked, trying to carefully pry it out of her hands.

She didn't loosen her grip, and didn't seem to be listening to him as she kept her eyes on Nick.

"Sweetheart, can we leave the pipe? Could you let go?" Kevin asked again. She still didn't respond, so he put his hand lightly on her cheek, turning her face to force her to look at him. "Let's let go of the pipe, Jillian. I'm gonna take you to the hospital now."

Jillian blinked a few times and then nodded, letting Kevin take the pipe and place it on her workbench.

"Alright. Let's go." Kevin forced another smile as he put his arm over her shoulders, keeping her as far away from Nick as possible as he led her toward the stairs.

xxxxxx


	7. Chapter 7

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 7

xxxxxx

It hadn't taken all that long for Holtzmann to get a room in the ER. Apparently, she seemed to be considered a serious enough case for them to be quick about it. Maybe it was how she worded her answer when the receptionist asked why she was here. What had she even said? She felt like she was in a fog and just blurted out whatever information she could think of - mentioning the two guys attacking her - twice... Probably said something about being beaten with a pipe and having her arm jerked out of its socket. She wasn't sure what else she had said. She just began to ramble and didn't stop until she realized the woman at the desk was staring at her with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide. Weren't these people trained not to react like that? What if Holtzmann was easily panicked? That would have certainly made things worse...

She must have looked awful, because they made a big deal about reassuring her that she wouldn't be waiting long and had even brought her a wheelchair, even when she insisted she could walk fine on her own.

So when they called her back to a room a couple minutes after she and Kevin arrived, she stood up from the wheel chair and left it out in the lobby.

"You can go ahead and have a seat." The nurse advised as she began taking Holtzmann's vitals, marking down notes as she went.

Holtzmann felt her heart pounding as the nurse equipped herself with a stethoscope. Her numbers were probably going to be fucking horrible right about now. The adrenaline from everything that had happened still hadn't worn off, and just being in a hospital was stressful by itself. Holtzmann hated doctors and nurses... Not that she actually hated them as human beings... She just didn't enjoy being around them when they were poking and prodding and asking questions.

"Your heart rate and blood pressure are a little high, but that's understandable. We can take them again in a little bit when things have calmed down." the nurse noted. "We're going to take some x-rays and complete a more thorough examination, but we're still waiting on a few things. Then we'll get started." She smiled nervously.

Holtzmann frowned as she stared at the woman. Her name tag said 'Cindy Priest.' She looked to be in her twenties and had a sort of nervous look to her. Maybe she was new to being a nurse. Or maybe Holtzmann's particular circumstance was one she hadn't dealt with a lot and it made her uncomfortable. She wondered how often people came into the ER after having been beaten up for no reason by two random men they didn't know. She couldn't imagine it was really all too uncommon. Lots of people out in the world were violent and awful. This kind of thing and worse happened all the time.

"What are we waiting for exactly?" Holtzmann wondered with a frown.

"We're waiting on the police officer who was there at the scene - a Mr. Daniel Worthey." Cindy explained. "He's got some questions for you before we do anything else."

"Like what?" Holtzmann frowned. "Can't you take the x-rays and get this over with without him?"

"He's got some questions." The nurse repeated.

"Like what?" Holtzmann said again.

"Just questions about what happened. We're going to get you taken care of, so don't worry. We've just got to be thorough. A crime was committed and there may be evidence of that crime on you. Since this isn't necessarily a medical emergency, we're going to hold off until the police get whatever they need from you." Cindy explained.

Holtzmann pouted. "How very humane of you." She noted.

"I realize it might seem a little robotic, but I assume you're pressing charges against these men. Surely you don't want any potential evidence destroyed." The nurse explained.

"I guess." Holtzmann exhaled, though she didn't see what evidence there could possibly be that taking some x-rays would compromise.

"So if you could just sit tight. It'll probably be a couple minutes before he gets here... Then he can ask his questions, gather any evidence... and we'll get you all fixed up." The nurse offered a quick smile and left the room, closing the door carefully behind her.

Holtzmann sat down on the hospital bed and offered a tight smile as she stared across the small room at Kevin, who stood somewhat awkwardly next to a chair near the door. She wondered if he realized he could sit down or if he just didn't want to.

"Does it feel like anything's broken?" Kevin asked with a frown.

Holtzmann shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't hurt much if I don't move... and don't breathe."

Kevin nodded. "I guess I maybe screwed up a little back there." He noted.

Holtzmann frowned. He didn't screw up. He saved her. He grabbed Nick and held onto him so he couldn't reach her again. "How so?" She wondered.

"Well, I kind of got cocky." He explained. "Forgot to lock the door... Didn't count on them bringing a gun. I thought I could just beat them up, but I didn't know they'd be armed. I was dumb to not consider that they might have a weapon."

Holtzmann felt a smile tugging at her lips. Kevin did a lot of things that were dumb. Trying to defend her and not counting on being unfairly outmatched was the least of his imperfections. "I didn't know they'd have the gun either." She shrugged. "You couldn't have known. Besides, you did do pretty well putting Nick in that choke-hold. I'm pretty sure he was about to punch me in the face." She laughed nervously.

They both looked up as they heard a knock at the door, followed by the police officer from before opening it and stepping in. A second female cop stood behind him. "Hi. Um... We met before, but I don't think I properly introduced myself. I'm Officer Daniel Worthey." The man forced an uncomfortable looking smile before gesturing back toward the other cop. "This my partner, Amy. Ms. Holtzmann, We've got some questions we need to ask you if that's okay."

Holtzmann nodded.

"Great." He glanced toward Kevin. "He's welcome to stay if you want him to."

"I do want him to." Holtzmann told the cop without hesitation.

"Okay..." Daniel pulled a chair up in front of the bed and sat down while Amy stayed quietly near the door. The female cop looked younger than Daniel - probably in hear mid twenties. Maybe she hadn't been a cop for long, because she seemed a little more uneasy than Daniel.

"I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure the men who attacked you stay locked up for a long time, but I need some information first." Daniel explained. "If you could, in as much detail as you can remember, tell me what exactly happened - what each of the men did... There's a good chance we can charge both of them with more than one crime and that'll ensure they stay locked up longer. I just need as many details as you can offer. Starting at the beginning."

Holtzmann exhaled. This sounded tedious. "Okay..."

"I'm going to record the audio if that's alright - so I can type up your statement later and not miss anything." Daniel told her.

Holtzmann shrugged.

Daniel turned on some kind of recording device and sat it down on the end of the bed. "This is officer Daniel Worthey recording an interview with Jillian Holtzmann. Also present in the room are my partner Amy Craft, and Uh..." He looked toward Kevin.

"Kevin." Kevin answered.

"Last name?" Daniel asked.

"Nope. Kevin's my first name." Kevin answered.

Holtzmann smirked, but didn't step in to help. She loved it when Kevin did things like this. She loved watching the confused expressions of other people around him who didn't know him yet. She glanced back toward Amy, who looked legitimately worried, and then toward Daniel, who just looked confused.

"What's your last name, Kevin?" Daniel asked.

"Oh... What was my last name? You mean my previous name? No. I've always just had the one." Kevin shrugged. "Kevin Beckman. Only name I've ever had."

Daniel exhaled tiredly and leaned toward his audio recorder. "The fourth person in the room is Kevin Beckman, who was present for the second half of the incident." The cop looked back toward Holtzmann and continued. "So, Ms. Holtzman, if you could start at the beginning. What was going on when you first encountered Nick Turner and Steve Bryant?" Daniel asked.

Holtzmann swallowed. They had last names. Of course they did... But that made them sound so much more like regular people. Two normal men randomly decided to attack her. They were just regular guys with last names.

"Miss..." Daniel frowned.

Holtzmann blinked and shook her head. "Oh... Um. I was dumpster diving." She paused, feeling her eyes grow wide. "I didn't take anything though." She defended. She hadn't meant to incriminate herself just then. For a moment she forgot the several times she'd had the police called on her for stealing things out of people's dumpsters. No one had ever pressed charges, but surely the cops were gonna grow tired of giving her warnings eventually.

"That's okay. You're not in trouble here." Daniel assured her.

"Alright..." Holtzmann breathed. "Well. Nick and Steve came up and started talking to me. They wanted to have coffee, but I said no. Then they started getting mad and wouldn't let me leave."

"Which one did which things?" Daniel cut in. "It's important to be specific."

"Oh." Holtzmann thought back. "It was Nick who first came up and started talking to me. Then Steve started suggesting that we go get coffee. He implied that he thought I was homeless or needed his help. I told him no, and he started getting mad. Then when I tried to leave, he grabbed me and wouldn't let me go."

"Alright. Then what happened?" Daniel asked.

"Well, Steve held onto me pretty tight and when I tried to go, he wouldn't let me. They both shoved me back and forth, and Nick recognized me from the news and said he thought The Ghostbusters were liars and frauds. He wanted me to admit that we were frauds... Um... A lot happened. It was really fast... This might not be in order..." She felt like she was starting to panic. What if she couldn't re-tell the events well enough? What if her story didn't add up? She wasn't lying, but everything had been so quick and terrifying. Both men scared the hell out of her. Maybe she wasn't sure which one did each thing. She remembered the worst parts pretty clearly, but could she really say for sure which one was the one who pushed her or hit her and grabbed her too hard each and every time? She could easily get a detail wrong, and then what? Would Nick and Steve get to go free?

"Just do your best." Daniel smiled. "I know it's not fun going over this..."

"I don't know if I remember which one did which thing or what order it happened in..." Holtzmann frowned. "If I get something wrong are they going to get away with this?" She felt tears building up in her eyes.

"No... It's not uncommon for details to get a little fuzzy in situations like this." Daniel assured her. "Just try your best. Be as accurate as you can, but if it's not perfect, it's not like the whole case would be thrown out. We want as few inconsistencies as we can, but it's normal that you don't have a photographic memory of the whole event."

Holtzmann swallowed and closed her eyes, trying to remember more clearly. "Okay... They pushed me around. They both did, like back and forth and I ended up trying to run... Somebody grabbed me... and at some point Nick was coming after me and I kicked him and it made him really mad. But before that I hit him in the nose and maybe broke it. It was bleeding... That was when Steve was still holding me by my arms, and Nick was mad after I hit him, so he started punching me, but Steve told him to be less rough. I think Nick was going to hit me again so I used Steve's body as leverage to jump up and kick him. Then I got away from Steve for a minute, but they caught me again. I know Nick jerked my arm back and dislocated my shoulder, and Steve pushed me up against the wall a couple times so that the back of my head was bleeding... Then I was on the ground and Nick was choking me and trying to tear my clothes off. They were both joking about wanting to hold me down and do things to me... But Nick was the only one who seemed to really want to do it. Steve made him stop."

"What exactly did they threaten to do? And what exactly did Nick do?" The cop asked.

Holtzmann closed her eyes again, not really wanting to remember or speak any of this out loud, but trying to anyway. "I'm not sure what exactly they said... I can't remember the words. I just know it made me feel sick... and scared... Nick asked Steve if he wanted him to hold me down for him. Maybe it was more implied. Steve joked about if he wanted me on the ground or up against the wall... I fought back and Nick got really rough. He held me down to the ground and pulled my shirt open. He put his hands on me, up under my bra... and tried to pull my pants down before Steve convinced him to stop. Then they let me go and I headed toward the fire station. Then I ran into you."

"And you wouldn't talk to me then." Daniel remembered. "Why was that?"

"Nick said if I told the cops, he'd come back. He said he'd rape me and kill me." Holtzmann frowned and looked down at the floor. She noticed Kevin's feet move as he made his way over toward the bed and sat down, taking her hand carefully in his without a word.

Holtzmann smiled and squeezed his hand back.

"I understand why you were afraid." Daniel spoke, sounding a bit uncomfortable. "So they approached you a second time. How did that come about."

"I was the one who talked to them first the second time." Kevin stepped in. "I left the door unlocked after you left, and they just waltzed right in a few minutes later. They thought she had talked to the police because they were watching the building and saw you come and go. I had Jillian hide and then I went downstairs to see who was there. Nick had a gun and he told Jillian she needed to come out from hiding or else he'd shoot me."

"So I came out." Holtzmann continued. "I hid a pipe behind my back and hit Nick with it... I just didn't want him to hurt Kevin..."

"That's okay." Daniel promised. "They broke into the building and had a gun. I think self defense sounds reasonable here."

Holtzmann nodded. "So we kinda fought a bit... He got the pipe from me and and hit me with it."

"Hold on. Which one hit you with the pipe?" Daniel cut in.

"Nick." She answered. "Steve didn't do much the second time. He held a gun on Kevin to keep him from trying to help me, but it was really only Nick who did anything the second time. He hit me in the ribs and on the arm with my pipe... And then he held me down on the ground with the pipe over my throat... Kind of choking me with it..."

"Alright." Daniel nodded, cocking his head slightly to better see her throat.

"Then Nick tried again to undress me. He hit me... Eventually Steve told him to stop and pointed the gun at him and Nick got mad and hit him... And then Kevin overpowered him and you guys showed up." Jillian finished with a shaking exhale. She didn't like talking about this, especially not in so much detail, and especially not with Nick's threats looming over her. He was right when he said he wouldn't be locked up forever because of this, and he was going to be pretty mad at her when he got out.

"When you say he tried to undress you..." Daniel hesitated. "How far did he get?"

Holtzmann frowned. "Which time?"

"Both." Daniel answered. "I just need to know what to classify that part as. Rape? Sexual assault? What exactly did he do?"

Holtzmann offered a dry laugh and closed her eyes, squeezing Kevin's hand. "Sexual assault, definitely." She told him. "Not rape." She shook her head.

"Could you be specific? I can't use that statement to press charges. I need something more descriptive." Daniel sounded nervous again.

"Well..." Holtz exhaled. "The first time, he pushed me down against the ground, held me there, and ripped my vest and shirt open. He pushed his hand up under my bra and groped me. He was going to pull my pants down - he ripped the button off - but Steve stopped him. He seemed like he was really going to do it... I mean, he wasn't joking. He was going for it... Steve just convinced him to stop before he got there."

"Okay..." Daniel breathed, still sounding so uncomfortable. "And the second time?"

"He went straight for the pants that time. He pulled them down to my knees and rubbed his fingers over my underwear." Holtzmann explained, staring down at Kevin's hand squeezing hers. "He didn't rape me. He never got completely under my clothes besides the first time when he pushed his hand under my bra. It wasn't rape. He tried, but it wasn't rape." She felt like she was talking to herself now more than to Daniel, trying to reassure herself that she was okay and that what happened wasn't quite reason enough for her to panic.

"Alright..." Daniel exhaled. "Thank you, Jillian. You've been very helpful. I know it had to be hard talking about this. I'll be in touch... I'm going to chat with your nurse for a minute and she'll be in to check you out shortly... If there's no other details or questions you want to discuss?"

Holtzmann shook her head.

"If you do think of anything else, you're free to give me a call." Daniel held out a card, which Holtzmann kind of accidentally ignored until Kevin reached over her and took it. "If it's okay with you, I'm going to have my partner take some photos of your injuries once you're in your hospital gown."

Holtz frowned and looked past Daniel at his partner, who still stood near the door.

The other officer offered a small smile and nodded. "I'll wait out in the hall until you're ready." She spoke in a kind voice.

As Daniel and Amy exited the room, Holtzmann closed her eyes and leaned against Kevin, who put his arm carefully around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"You're doing great, Jillian." He spoke in a low voice.

Holtzmann forced a small smile. She didn't feel like she was doing great. Nick had held her down and hurt her while she couldn't do a single thing about it - twice in the same night. He had made her feel so defenseless and weak - which was not a way she enjoyed feeling at all. Holtzmann liked being in control. She liked being able to defend herself and her friends. She wasn't a victim... At least, she didn't want to be... But tonight, she felt like she kind of was. Steve and Nick had full control over her in the alley. She didn't get away because she was strong and capable. She got away because she cried and Steve felt bad... And she didn't escape back at the firehouse thanks to defending herself either. She escaped because Kevin was there and held the guy back. Sure, she got a few good hits and kicks in, but she absolutely couldn't have escaped that on her own.

She felt entirely useless, and honestly pretty scared. It was terrifying knowing people like Nick were out there - people who could easily overpower her and hurt her just because they wanted to... And what could she do to prevent it? If someone else like Nick cornered her while she was alone, what could she possibly do?

"I'll bet Nick at least is gonna be locked up for a long time." Kevin went on. "They're gonna be able to file all sorts of stuff against him."

Holtzmann leaned further against him. He was probably right. She wouldn't be seeing Nick again any time soon. He would be charged with assaulting both Kevin and her... He had broken into the firehouse. He tried to rape her twice... He might be charged with some variation of kidnapping or unlawful restraint since he wouldn't let her leave the alley. Maybe even attempted murder considering how hard he had choked her.

Holtzmann looked up toward the door as the nurse from before, Cindy knocked and poked her head in. "Hi. Sorry for making you wait... The way you worded whatever you said to the receptionist had her thinking you'd been raped. We didn't want to lose evidence."

"Oh..." Holtzmann laughed nervously and looked down. She wondered what exactly she had said. She'd been so full of adrenaline and nerves that she just rattled off everything as fast as her voice allowed her to.

"I mean... Not to minimize or invalidate what you went through..." Cindy grimaced and shook her head. "I'm really sorry you had all that happen to you... It's just, the type of evidence I feared we'd potentially lose isn't actually there. It's a slightly different case than I thought..."

Holtzmann nodded. "I understand."

"If you could change into this." She walked over and handed Holtzmann a hospital gown. "I'll be back in a few minutes with Officer Craft so she can photograph your injuries before we get started." She glanced toward Kevin. "Would you like him to wait in the hall?"

"No." Holtzmann shook her head, reaching over and grabbing Kevin's arm before she could tell herself not to. "I want him to stay..." She heard a bit of quiver in her own voice. Holtzmann wasn't ordinarily someone who got upset easily, but the thought of being left alone in here right now kind of made her panic, especially knowing the one cop wanted to take pictures. For some reason, she felt like if Kevin left, he might not come back. She didn't want to be by herself in here while the cop stared her down and took photos of her bruises. She couldn't let Kevin leave her sight just yet.

"Alright. I'll be back." Cindy smiled and headed back out the door.

"Do you want some privacy?" Kevin asked as Holtzmann started to take off her shoes with her feet. He put his hands over his ears and stared at her.

Holtzmann smiled. She didn't care if Kevin saw her. He'd already seen her bra when she first ran into him at the firehouse with her shirt and vest half torn off her, and he saw her underwear when Nick pulled her pants down. He'd seen everything already and she knew he wasn't a creep. It didn't matter.

She stood up and slid her pants down, leaving them on the floor and reaching for her shirt next, wincing and letting go as a sharp pain shot through her ribs.

"Ow..." She groaned, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Do you want me to help?" Kevin wondered.

Holtzmann opened her eyes to see Kevin frowning as he stared at her with worry in his eyes. He still held his hands over his ears. She narrowed her eyes as she stared into his. How could he not figure out the difference between sight and sound. Obviously he could still see her with his ears covered. He had to be aware of that. How did that get disconnected in his brain?

"I won't be weird about it or anything." Kevin promised, taking her expression to be one of concern over his offer.

"Okay." Holtzmann nodded. She raised her arms up letting him pull the t-shirt up over her head and help her into the gown. She turned around and let him tie it in the back, honestly impressed that he was able to figure out how to tie a bow at all.

She looked back toward the door as the nurse, Cindy, and the cop, Amy made their way back in.

"So we're going to look over any injuries you have. I'll ask questions as we go." Cindy explained. "Amy's just going to take some quick photos."

Holtzmann nodded and stared at the nurse, waiting on further instruction. She kind of wanted to just tell these women to forget it all and let her go home.

"We'll start from the top and work our way down." Cindy explained, putting her hand carefully on Holtzmann's face. "You've got scratches on your cheek and contusions on your other cheek and jaw." She noted.

"He hit me." Holtzmann blurted, unsure if Cindy wanted an explanation or was just making observations. "And the scratches are from the brick wall he shoved me against. I mean, I was trying to get away... Maybe that part's my fault. Probably wouldn't be as big of a scratch-"

"It's not your fault." Amy interrupted with a frown. "You don't need to rationalize or explain away any of this. As far as I'm concerned, any injury you suffered tonight was because of them. For my part, the paperwork will reflect that. You wouldn't have had to try to get away if they hadn't bothered you in the first place."

"Oh." Holtzmann breathed, nodding. That made sense. Obviously, objectively, her actions did cause further injury in this case, when she tried to move while her face was pressed against a roughly textured wall. But yes, it was their fault she felt the need to hurt herself further to try to get away from them. "Anyway... He had me against the wall and I was trying to get away. He just pushed me harder, so the wall scraped my cheek."

"I see..." Cindy nodded. "Amy's going to take a photo." She stepped back and the other woman stepped in front of Holtzmann.

"Is this okay?" Amy asked, holding up her camera.

Holtzmann swallowed and nodded, staring at the camera and then blinking and shrinking down after the bulb flashed.

"She said earlier that the back of her head was bleeding as well." Amy noted, talking to the nurse almost like Holtzmann wasn't even there.

Both women made their way around so they could see and Amy snapped a picture as Cindy parted her hair slightly with her fingers. "It's a small cut. I don't think you'll need stitches, Hon."

"Okay." Holtzmann breathed. She probably would have refused to get stitches anyway. She'd done that before. The only negative consequence to refusing stitches on non-life-threatening injuries was that she got scars, and she didn't mind. It was better than stitches.

"If you could tilt your chin up so I can get one of your neck..." Amy went on as she made her way back around in front of Holtzmann.

Holtzmann looked up and let the cop brush some loose curls away from her neck before taking the photo. Then Cindy stepped back in, looking the bruises over with narrowed eyes and putting her cold fingers up against Holtzmann's neck.

"Any pain?" She asked as she pressed her fingers carefully around Holtzmann's throat.

"Yeah." Holtzmann whispered.

"Scale of one to ten - with ten being the worst?" The nurse asked.

"Three? Just when you press down..." Holtzmann answered. "And my throat is kinda sore."

"Okay..." The nurse moved on, looking at Hotlzmann's arms, but speaking to the cop. "She's got finger marks on her arms as well. And you told the officer one of the men dislocated your shoulder? Which arm?" She looked up into Holtzmann's eyes.

"This one." She raised her arm slightly. "But Kevin fixed it."

"Oh." The nurse frowned, glancing back toward Kevin.

"There's videos on youtube of how to fix that kinda thing, so he just looked it up and went for it." Holtzmann shrugged.

"Oh..." Cindy grimaced. "That's really not a great idea."

"But it worked." Holtz frowned.

Cindy looked at her shoulder, gripping it carefully with her still too-cold hands and rotating it gently. "He actually seemingly did a really good job." She sounded surprised.

"He's good at that stuff, I guess." Holtzmann shrugged. She held still as Amy snapped photos of her arms.

"I'm going to move your sleeve." Amy noted as she slid the gown's sleeve up to reveal more bruises. She did the same with the other arm.

"He had... like... Yeti hands." Holtzmann laughed nervously as she watched Amy's eyes look up and down her arms. "You see that?" She nodded toward her arm, where large, finger-shaped bruises lined her skin.

"Yes." Amy's voice was low as she stared. "I see." She raised her camera up and took another photo.

"Alright. I'd like you to lie down on the bed if you will. We're going to look at your ribs. Do you still want Kevin to stay?" Cindy frowned.

Holtzmann nodded. She wanted him to stay now more than ever while two people she didn't know were preparing to move what little clothing she was wearing to the side and take pictures of her.

Kevin moved to stand from the side of the bed, but Holtzmann reached out and grabbed his arm. "Can you stay close?" She asked.

He nodded, standing right next to the bed and helping her lie back as moving in such a way caused her ribs to hurt enough that she let out an involuntary whimper.

"I'm going to lift your gown." Cindy told her, reaching for the fabric and moving it up over her legs, all the way past her chest so that it rested over her bra. Holtzmann watched the nurse as the woman nodded toward Holtzmann's thighs and gave Amy a silent look.

"You're certain you don't want a rape kit done?" Amy finally spoke up.

Holtzmann frowned, looking down at her legs to see what had caused the other two women concern. She had bruises on her thighs, mostly on the insides of her legs. "He had his knees there... Holding me down so I couldn't kick..." She explained, feeling almost like the nurse and cop were angry with her or thought she was lying. "He didn't rape me... I swear..."

"Okay. I didn't mean to imply..." Amy's voice sounded like she was trying hard to sound gentle and understanding, but she also sounded like she was out of breath. "I believe you... I just... I don't want you to regret anything... A lot of women who are raped have bruises just like yours. I'm just-"

"It's okay." Holtzmann breathed. "There's nothing to regret. I see how it looks, but he was just holding me down. I mean, I'm sure he would have gotten there eventually, but he didn't..." She forced a nervous laugh.

"I'm sorry..." Amy breathed.

"It's alright." Holtzmann assured her. "You're being thorough... I get it."

"Okay... I'm uh... I'm going to take some photos of your legs, then your ribs. Then I think I'll be done." Amy sounded so nervous.

"Is this your first time doing this?" Holtzmann asked. It might not have been the nicest thought she had ever had, but seeing the cop so flustered actually made her feel a lot better. Holtzmann wasn't the only one here completely uncomfortable and nervous. She liked that.

"Why?" Amy frowned, looking up from her camera.

Holtzmann shrugged and smiled slightly. "You look more nervous than I feel."

"I'm so sorry..." Amy frowned, blinking her eyes and exhaling.

"It's okay... Your job is awkward as fuck." Holtzmann laughed.

She saw Amy crack a smile as well. "Could you turn your leg a little?"

Holtzmann did as the officer asked. "See? Awkward."

Amy let out a small laugh and took her last few photos, then frowned. "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm new at this... I'm trying to be professional. It's difficult to find the correct way to ask these things. I hope I didn't make you more uncomfortable than you already were."

"It's fine. There's no way to take pictures of a strangers legs that wouldn't be awkward." Holtzmann told her. "You did fine."

"So did you." Amy smiled and squeezed her hand. "Remember to give Daniel a call if you think of anything else... and I hope you start feeling better soon. I'm glad they didn't hurt you worse."

"Me too." Holtzmann exhaled and squeezed the woman's hand back. "And again, for the record... You did a good job. I'm socially unacceptable and that probably didn't help."

Amy smirked. "You did fine. Thank you for being patient with me. Take care... And thanks for saving the city from those ghosts. That was crazy."

Holtzmann nodded and waved as the woman left.

"What a weirdo." Kevin mumbled under his breath after Amy was gone. "You didn't save the city from ghosts. Those guys were alive... And they certainly weren't after the whole city. I mean... way to blow this out of proportion, right?"

Holtzmann rolled her eyes slightly and chose not to further explain what the woman had been referring to.

"I'm going to put a little pressure on your ribs here to check for any obvious breaks." The nurse explained as she put her freezing fingertips on Holtzmann's skin.

Holtz flinched back slightly and inhaled a breath.

"Did that hurt?" Cindy frowned down at her and drew her hand back.

"No." Holtzmann shook her head. "Your fingers are like ice."

"Oh... Sorry..." Cindy rubbed her hands together and flexed her fingers before trying again, pressing down gently. "Let me know if there's any pain."

Holtz held her breath as the nurse moved her hands over her ribs. She winced and squeezed her eyes shut as Cindy's fingers moved over a particularly sore spot.

"Here?" Cindy asked, carefully pressing down again.

"Yes." Holtzmann breathed in a sharp breath as she reached up and grabbed the woman's wrist.

"Okay. It's okay. I'll stop." Cindy backed off. "We'll get the x-rays done. It's likely just a crack that won't require surgery or anything, but we'll double check. I'll let them know you're ready. Someone should be by in a couple minutes. Then we'll have to wait for them to be read. If nothing's broken, you'll probably be allowed to go home within the next hour or two."

xxxxxx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering I'm not sure I like them, I sure write a lot of hospital chapters in my stories... I guess I kinda have to when I beat up the characters so much...
> 
> Anyway, there's two chapters left in this and I'm gonna try to finish it fairly quickly so I can start my next one - which is my favorite one.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience. The people I live with have been being excruciating and I've not been afforded much privacy or quiet time to write or edit anything. Any time I feel like I have a minute, they'll linger around and I can't write with them right there hovering over my shoulder. They're mad at each other and maybe at me... One of them is in the next room slamming things around right now.
> 
> So I'm gonna finish this and try to get the next one started soon, but try to be patient with me. I only ever put off posting my new chapters if I'm working too hard at my job or if my breaks from work aren't actually breaks after all. I wanted to finish this story and start my next one this weekend, but this weekend has sucked, so I don't know for sure when I'll start posting my next story. I'm really proud of it and want to make sure to have time to edit it well, so I don't want to rush in posting it.
> 
> I do have exciting news though. While reading through my next story and making edits, I inspired myself to write another Ghostbusters story very loosely related to something mentioned in my next one. It will be focusing on Holtzmann again, but with all the other characters in it too. I don't want to give away the plot yet because it's not finished and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I did outline it in a way that was very ambitious and I have 24 chapters planned. Some of the later ones might end up being combined, but I'm writing chapter 14 already because I'm nuts. I know I said I haven't had much privacy to write - and that's true - but I've been so excited about my new idea that I've been writing it like mad in short bursts whenever people finally leave me alone for a half our or so. Whenever everyone else is asleep, or their arguing moves to a room far enough away, I can write more!
> 
> So thanks for reading this one, and I'll try to bring you my next two shortly. I love you. :)

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CHAPTER 8

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"I think I'm gonna call in sick tomorrow." Jillian noted as she laid her head on Kevin's shoulder and pushed the ice pack given to her by the nurse further up over her ribs. At the moment, she and Kevin were sharing the hospital bed while they waited on her x-rays to be read. Apparently it took a while for whomever read them to free up enough time to do so, and apparently Jillian was extremely comfortable around Kevin now.

He hadn't ever spent much time alone with her until tonight, but she'd bonded to him quickly and had scooted over and asked him to sit next to her as soon as she was back from getting the x-rays taken. Kevin had happily agreed... but he was surprised she trusted him enough to want to be so close to him. Of course, he was glad she trusted him. She mattered a great deal to him.

"Are you gonna tell the others what happened?" Kevin wondered. Obviously she didn't enjoy discussing it, and was probably getting tired of re-telling the whole ordeal to each new person who asked. The other women were going to notice that Jillian was either absent or covered in bruises though. It seemed even just breathing was painful to her, so he doubted she'd be up and working like normal any time in the next several days. The others were going to wonder what was going on. The police may have even already contacted them due to the Ghostbusters headquarters being a crime scene. "I can tell them if you want them to know but don't want to go through the details again." Kevin offered.

Jillian turned her head and looked up at him. Her curls tickled his collar as she moved. "Did you go to an optometrist to get those glasses?" She asked, ignoring his question.

"Um... No." He frowned. He wasn't sure what that word meant. "An eye doctor."

"Is it a very strong prescription?" She wondered, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't think so." He shrugged. "I don't even really notice a difference when I put them on and take them off."

"You know the glass part is what makes you able to see better, Kevin." Jillian told him. "You popped the lenses out. That's why you don't notice a difference. It's the same as not wearing them at all. Nothing's in front of your eyes but air."

"Really?" He took the glasses off and looked at them, sticking his fingers through the lenses and frowning. "How come you guys never told me?"

"I think Abby tried to once. She was cleaning her glasses and you offered to take the lenses out for her. She tried to explain it, but you just kept saying you could fix it by taking out the lenses. I don't think you were listening to what she was saying." Jillian shrugged.

"The lenses are the part that makes 'em work?" Kevin frowned. "What are the frames for then?"

Jillian raised her eyebrows and smirked. "To hold the lenses up?" She laughed.

"Wow... So..." Kevin frowned, sticking his fingers through the glasses again and turning them over in his hand as he stared down at them. "If I put the lenses back in, would I be able to read street signs?"

Jillian turned her head again, giving him that perplexed stare she often reserved just for him before blinking, shaking her head slightly, and laughing softly. "Yeah... Uh... You might not want to be driving if you can't read street signs..."

"Well, I can see 'em. Just can't read 'em. I know what they mean, more or less." Kevin shrugged. "Like the red square is stop."

"You mean a stop sign? That's not a square..." Jillian frowned.

"Green square is go." Kevin went on.

Jillian's eyebrows rose and a small smirk appeared on her lips, but she didn't say anything more.

"So I know what the signs mean. I just can't read the words on 'em... But I remember what they mean." Kevin elaborated. "Don't know what the speed limits are, but I kinda just wing it."

Jillian let out a louder laugh, but quickly stopped herself with a sharp wince. She bit her lip and looked back toward the door as she shifted slightly in the bed next to him with a small groan.

"You okay?" He asked as he looked down at her.

"Yeah..." She didn't sound very happy though. Her voice sounded like she was in pain. She adjusted the ice pack over her ribs and closed her eyes. "It hurts to laugh." She stuck her lower lip out in a pout.

"Aww..." Kevin frowned too as he hugged his arm around her back and squeezed her shoulder with his hand. "I'm sorry..."

Jillian shrugged slightly. "Do you think a proton gun could suck the ghost out of someone who's still alive?" She wondered.

"Um..." Kevin hesitated. "Do living people have ghosts inside them?"

Jillian shrugged again. "I don't see why they wouldn't. It's kind of like a spirit or soul... The body dies and the ghost can continue on... So it should be in there."

"So if the proton gun sucks the ghost out of a living body, does the body die? Or will it walk around mindlessly?" Kevin wondered.

Jillian offered a small gasp. "Like a zombie... Or maybe better... Because the brain might still be alive, only without personality... It would be like a meat-robot or an intelligent sociopath zombie... I probably shouldn't mess with that, huh?"

"Probably not." Kevin agreed.

"So maybe something like a proton taser... If I could re-imagine the proton gun to be something smaller, shooting out short, weaker, very calculated bursts of energy - not to totally trap or kill, but to stun... I could potentially use it on ghosts and the living." Jillian spoke, maybe talking more to herself than to Kevin. He hoped so at least, because he had no idea what she was talking about.

"I guess." He said, not wanting to seem like he didn't understand.

"Clearly I need something to defend myself with." She frowned.

"Well, it can't hurt..." Kevin agreed. "Hopefully those guys were a one-time problem and we won't run into anyone else like that."

Jillian closed her eyes and exhaled.

"I could still go with you places if you're worried." Kevin offered.

"Not forever, Kevin." Jillian turned her head to look up at him again. "You're not gonna want to babysit me for the rest of my life."

"I could. We're about the same age. The rest of your life is probably just about the same as the rest of mine." Kevin reminded her.

Jillian shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I don't want to have to have someone with me at all times in order to feel safe."

"And you won't... Maybe for a while... But most people in the world aren't like those guys. You'll remember that as you move on from this." Kevin told her. "But until then, I'm happy to go with you anywhere you want me to. I'll even call in sick tomorrow too and hang out with you all day if you want. We can drive around to dumpsters. I'll do the heavy lifting of course. I'll get you all the stuff you missed out on tonight and more."

Jillian smiled, which made Kevin smile too. He was glad she seemed to be in better spirits already from how she was earlier tonight. Still not totally back to normal, but not as anxious and upset as before. She was going to be alright. It just might take a while before she would want to go anywhere by herself.

And he understood that... He didn't want her going anywhere by herself either. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he felt sick thinking about the fact that each of the women he worked with was so independent. Of course, he was all for feminism and women doing their own thing... But all four of them just went off alone all the time, out into the city in the dark... Onto nearly abandoned subway cars where some creep could easily step onto the train and do whatever they wanted with no witnesses, into taxis driven by strangers who could decide to rig the locks and drive them away forever...

Kevin knew he couldn't expect that they would want to be escorted and guarded everywhere they went, and he realized in a perfect world, such a thought wouldn't even be considered... but the world was a dangerous place. Poor Jillian was just looking through a dumpster and couldn't manage to be left alone by the creeps who attacked her. It wasn't fair, and it made Kevin's heart hurt.

He continued looking down at her as she laid her head against him and closed her eyes. There really wasn't anything she could have done to avoid what had happened. Not unless she hid from the world or was armed and ready to defend herself at all times. It just wasn't realistic to expect her to live like that. Those two jerks in the alley saw an opportunity and they took it. They saw that she was alone, that she was small, perhaps a bit naive... They wanted to hurt someone who couldn't fight back and she happened to be there. That's all there was to it.

As he watched her lying still against him, seemingly falling asleep, Kevin felt a strange, tight feeling in his chest. Jillian was such a calm, collected person. She was generally a quiet observer, always watching and listening, carefully planning what she wanted to do or say. She didn't panic easily. Didn't often get emotional or visibly frightened...

But she had tonight... and the thought of seeing her so visibly shaken made Kevin feel uneasy, sad, and even angry. She didn't deserve any of that.

The memory of everything that happened in the firehouse was going to stay with him forever. Jillian had looked so scared... In those few minutes while Nick was hitting her, pinning her down, pulling her clothes off, and threatening her, Kevin had seen emotions in the young woman that he hoped to never ever see again...

He could only imagine how terrified she must have been when the men attacked her the first time, outside in the dark, without Kevin there... Sure, Kevin hadn't been much help for a large part of it even when he was present... but he was there at least. She wasn't alone. In the alley, she was all by herself... She knew no one could possibly help her because no one else was there. Maybe she thought they would kill her... Kevin had thought they might... He truly believed Nick was going to rape her too. He had been mentally preparing himself to risk fighting back in order to avoid that, but the logical part of his brain acknowledged that he'd probably fail... Maybe Steve would have shot and killed him... and then Jillian would have been even more terrified, even more alone... and her attackers would have felt even more cornered and desperate. They wouldn't have shown her mercy. Nick would have probably killed her when he was done.

Kevin looked down as Jillian's hand dropped limply off of her ribs and onto the mattress. The ice pack she had been holding against her body slid down along with her hand. He reached down and retrieved the ice pack, laying it gently over his friend's abdomen, careful not to put pressure on her injury as he held it there. He could feel her chest slowly, subtly rising and falling as she slept.

He leaned forward slightly, looking at her face, her closed eyes, the faint tear trails through a thin layer of dirt over her cheeks... Her lips were in a slight pout and some of her mess of curly hair had fallen partially over one of her eyes.

As he was staring at her, she started to blink her eyes open. For a moment, she looked kind of confused, before blinking a few more times and yawning. "What time is it?" She asked. "Can we go yet?"

Kevin smiled. "Soon, I hope. You were only asleep for a couple minutes."

"Oh." Jillian frowned.

As if on cue, a knock rang out on the door and the nurse from before opened it and stepped inside. "Sorry that took so long." She offered a small smile. "The doctor had a look at your x-rays, and besides for two small cracks, your ribs are fine. It's not a full break, but you'll need to take it easy for about a week. No strenuous exercise or heavy lifting. You'll want to keep applying ice - twenty minutes on, then twenty off. Your shoulder actually looks surprisingly fine..." She glanced toward Kevin. "You did a really good job. In the future, if something like this happens, it's best to come to the hospital, but it worked out this time."

"Does she need a sling?" Kevin wondered.

"We'll get her one." Cindy nodded. "The doctor has prescribed you some pain medication. You can get it at the pharmacy in the hospital before you go."

"Do I get to go home now?" Jillian asked, her eyes wide as a small, hopeful smile spread on her lips.

"Yes." Cindy laughed. "I'm going to get some discharge papers for you, and the sling... So I'll be back in a few. Then you can go home."

"Thanks." Jillian still looked pretty happy as she waved to the nurse as the other woman left. She groaned as she leaned back and intook a sharp breath.

"I think I'm gonna go home with you if that's alright." Kevin suggested. "Even though nothing's broken, you're clearly in pain. I'll help you out for a day or two. We can tell the others what happened if you want... Or we could lie."

Jillian smirked. "Do you think you could upkeep a lie?"

Kevin shrugged. "Probably. I do it all the time... Or do I?" He grinned.

Jillian smiled too. "Thanks for staying with me, Kevin... And for getting him away from me... and for letting me hit him with that pipe." She frowned. "I know that was wrong... He was saying gross things... but he wasn't a threat, and I didn't have to hit him. I just wanted to anyway. Maybe that makes me sadistic..."

"You don't have to feel sad for hitting him." Kevin frowned.

"No... Not sad..." Jillian shook her head and blinked her eyes. "Nevermind. I just don't know if it was the right thing to do."

"It was." Kevin assured her. "He earned it and then some after what he did and tried to do to you, Jillian. I'm glad you hit him. I wish you would have hit him more. Don't feel bad. He sure didn't when he was hurting you."

"Yeah. I guess." Jillian exhaled and looked down at her ribs, where Kevin was still holding the ice pack that had fallen a few minutes before. She smiled and put her hand on top of his. "Kevin, you're wonderful." She noted, still looking down.

"Oh..." Kevin laughed nervously and shrugged. Was she being sarcastic? It seemed like most compliments anyone paid to him were sarcasm.

"I mean it. I've not had a very supportive family growing up... And if something like this had happened before..." She hesitated. "I don't know... I just don't always expect support or care... It's nice when people come through. You didn't have to stay with me and you did. You could have left me at the firehouse. You could have left me here."

"I wouldn't do that." Kevin frowned. "You're like a little sister to me, Jillian. If you ever need me for anything, I'm gonna be here for you. I couldn't stand not to be."

"Thanks, Kevin. And you don't have to lie to Abby and Patty and Erin. You can tell them the truth." Jillian told him. "I just don't know if I want to talk about it again just yet."

"I'll be clear and concise. Make sure they know everything's fine now... And you can talk to them on your own terms when you're ready." Kevin suggested.

Jillian nodded, then rested her head against him and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry Steve threatened to shoot you and Nick hit you... but I'm glad you were there tonight."

Kevin nodded and hugged his arm around her carefully. "I'm glad I was there too."

xxxxxx


End file.
